LY2
by Ragenule
Summary: I recently finished watching all the episodes of MLAATR, and was unsatisifed with the ending  or lack thereof  of the series.  So, I'm trying to fix that issue! I hope you enjoy reading 'LY2' as much as I am writing it! MLAATR fans, unite!
1. 1 Perfected Nerves

It was a chilly late December night. A single vehicle with four occupants drifted along a lonely, isolated country road surrounded by an ancient forest.

_'This is such a beautiful night for a drive...' _thought the driver of the vehicle. About ready to relax due to the serenity of the scene, the driver was jerked awake by the sudden small blast of sound coming from the front Passenger's headphones. Slightly irritated at the distraction caused by the teen's music, and concerned for her hearing, the driver tapped the girl's shoulder.

"What is it, Mom?" Asked the passenger with a hint of annoyance.

"Don't give me that tone of voice, young lady, I simply wanted to ask you to turn down your music. You might damage your hearing!"

"I appreciate the concern, Mom, I do, but...couldn't you just swap out my audio receptors?" the teen asked nonchalantly.

"_Ecks-Jay-Niyun_, it takes time and some very delicate work to create ONE audio receptor, let alone two! What do you think would happen if you damaged your hearing? You wouldn't hear the alarms if Tremorton of the Earth were threatened!"

"But mom, seriously-" The robot started, but cut off mid-sentence shivering, and crossed her arms for warmth. Noticing the action, her mother became elated.

"Oh, XJ-9! Your perfected nerves finally kicked in! And don't think I don't know what you were going to say! Just because you haven't been required to go and save Tremorton or the planet for the past few months, doesn't mean you can neglect routine maintenance, or proceed with actions that damage your various parts." The driver lectured.

"Fine, I won't listen to music, I'll just sit here and drive myself insane with boredom...and freeze." grumbled the teenaged robot. After moping and watching the trees fly by, XJ-9 decided to ask her friends what they thought of their day at the Robotics Convention. However, upon turning around in her seat to look behind her, the robotic girl learned that they were fast asleep. _'Oh yeah, sure Brad. "It'll be fun and games, there and back!", huh? Then you go and sleep...both times. Jerk.'_

"Hmm...a December fog...how odd." murmured the driver.

"Whats wrong, mother?" questioned XJ-9, curiosity perked.

"A very rare December fog has rolled in. Not really an issue, its just an odd sight..." The pair watched out of the front of the vehicle in interest. Once they noticed the level of fog growing heavy at an exponential rate, curiosity turned to concern.

"At this rate you won't be able to drive, the fog is getting too heavy." XJ-9 stated, attempting to peer deep into the fog.

"I agree, lets see if pulling off and waiting a spell will help.." replied her mother. Once the vehicle went to the side of the road, the two started hearing illogical mumbling behind them, and peered towards the two passengers in the back.

"Waz goin' on Mrs. Wakeman..?" Brad asked groggily.

"Glad you could join us, Mr. Carbunkle. We've hit a patch of extremely dense fog.."

having awoken at the same time as his brother, Tuck became suddenly alert and started shaking. "Oh no, this is...just like in that movie...where...where the 10 eyed tentacle monsters -"

"Tuck, there is no such thing as 10-eyed tentacle monsters, so chill out." Brad lectured to his brother. Looking straight forward as Brad, Jenny, and Mrs. Wakeman stared at him, a figure darted in-front of the car into it's headlamps.

"AAAHHHGH! I DON'T WANNA DIE!" Screamed Tuck, while he balled himself up and pointed to the front. Being the quickest thanks to her modern robotics, Jenny managed to catch a black silhouette to the extreme left of her sight.

"OH MY GOD, there IS something out there!" She shouted, similarly balling herself up out of surprise and shock.

"Oh, XJ-9, don't act so childish! If there even IS anything out there, which it is most likely just a forest creature, you've defended the earth from much worse." Chided Mrs. Wakeman.

"Uhm, yeah...uhh," Jenny stammered in embarrasment, "I'll just, uhh...go and look." Upon exiting the car, Jenny walked away from the front of the car, and was promptly swallowed by the thick fog.

"Hey Jenny, are you, ahh...are you okay?" Brad shouted out to the emptiness from his window.

"Yeah, I'm fine. My mom was right, there is noth-" Jenny had begun to shout back, but was cut out by a loud racket.

"XJ-9? XJ-9! Whats going on!" Mrs. Wakeman shouted with worry. But instead of an ordinary reply, the only thing that Brad, Tuck, and Herself heard was the incredible sound of many trees being uprooted, Jenny letting out a high pitched '_**AAYYYIIIEEE!**_', more trees being uprooted, and then...silence. In disregard for their own safety, Brad and Mrs. Wakeman, bolted from the car towards the last known location of the sound.

"Mrs. Wakeman, don't you have some way to find where she is?" Brad probed with a demanding tone. His question was answered before Mrs. Wakeman had opened her mouth though, as the fog lifted and the pair saw a heart-stopping scene: the area had been completely obliterated. After recovering from his initial shock, Brad bounded off in great strides towards the heart of the scene. "JENNY, I'M COMING!"


	2. 2 Emergency Manouver

Mrs. Wakeman met Brad at the center holding a strange gadget, causing him to cast a questioning look towards her.

"Its designed to look for robotic lifeforms, and seeing as XJ-9 is the only robot in the area, this will take no time." Mrs. Wakeman explained cheerfully, as she flicked the machine's power toggle to 'ON'. After the machine scanned the immediate area, the results poped up on the screen with two little pippers. "Well, thats odd.." Mrs. Wakeman stated with suprise.

"Lets go look anyways Mrs. Wakeman. The pings are close to each other."

After walking to the location of the two marks, Brad and Mrs. Wakeman happened upon a large peice of debris. Just as Brad was about to mention how much it would hurt if anyone was stuck under the debris, the pair heard a familiar voice.

"OW, OW, OW, OW, OW, OW, OOOWWWWWW! GET THIS THING OFF ME!" Jenny screamed to no one in particular. Mrs. Wakeman shut off the robot radar, and the pair ran towards to source of the voice, which came from behind the debris. "Mom! Brad! Get this thing off me, it weighs a TON, and hurts like crazy!" shouted a desperate Jenny.

"Jenny, your Mom and I...we're humans, we can only lift so much." Brad stated with a line of concern running across his face. Thinking for a moment, Jenny finally came up with a solution to her problem.

"Mom, I'm going to turn into a lever to shift the weight of this thingy, and you and Brad can throw some other junk underneath the one pinning me."

"Thats a risky manouver, XJ-9, but I don't see any alternative."

After a few minutes, there was eventually enough junk underneath the large peice of 'something' that Jenny was able to crawl free, and stand up.

"Ow, ow, ow, oooh...my leg is pretty mangeled." Jenny said with a grunt and a look of grimace

"It looks to have been crushed, XJ-9. Not suprising, if you couldn't lift the debris on your own," stated Mrs. Wakeman, "so Mr. Carbunkle and I will help you get back to the car."

"Speaking of Brad, where did he go?" Jenny probed. And no sooner did Jenny ask her question did the two hear Brad yell out in shock from inside the debris, and see him run out.

"I-i-it-s a c-c-cockpi-t, a-nd...DEAD P-PEOPLE!" Brad shouted, and promptly curled into a ball. feeling the need to investigate, Jenny hobbeled over to and inside the junkpile. The inside being extremely dark, Jenny switched her eyes into flashlight mode. Looking around, she could see a set of flight controls and empty seats. Continuing to scan along the insides of the cockpit, Jenny came upon a sillouette of a pair of legs and lower torso hanging in the air. Gasping, she reeled in horror and bumped her critically damaged leg on a console and howled in pain. Immediently after that, Mrs. Wakeman rushed in, and Jenny quickly clung to her.

"Mom, its...a pair of legshangingfromtheceiling!" XJ-9 cried into her mother's shoulder. Patting Jenny's shoulders, Mrs. Wakeman began trying to calm her down.

"Jenny, get ahold of yourself! In the line of work you are in, you should atleast expect to see some death...now, show me where these 'legs' are."

After Jenny pointed them out to her mother ("I'm not looking at them again, even if my eyes ARE flashlights!"), Mrs. Wakeman walked over and investigated them. After making a confirmatory 'Ah-hah' sound, she promptly yanked them from the ceiling, causing Jenny to let out a gasp of shock.

"These are not legs. Not HUMAN legs, anyways. I can't quite make out the design of them in this light, but they are DEFINATELY robotic in origin." Stated Mrs. Wakeman with a satisfactory tone in her voice. Jenny sat on the floor, frozen and silent, until she started to mumble.

"Ro-robot-tic luh-legs?"

"Yes, robotic. So its not so ba-" Mrs. Wakeman had started, but she was promptly cut off by Jenny mistaking leaking oil as blood, and letting out a scream of horror while she bolted from the cockpit.

"Oh, XJ-9..." sighed Mrs. Wakeman, who proceeded to exit the cockpit carrying the legs to a squad of men training their guns on Brad, Jenny, and herself. "Oh my..."


	3. 3 The Mechanic

"Put your hands up and move towards us! Do it now!" one of the soldiers in a Skyway Patrol uniform shouted at the three. While Mrs. Wakeman dropped the robotic legs and raised her hands and walked forward, as well as Brad, Jenny stood still, with her hands in the air, with a look of discomfort on her face.

"You! Robot girl! come forward now or we'll be forced to sho-" The same soldier had started, but was promptly cut off by a hand grasping his shoulder, and a man walking forward.

"Thats completely unnessecary, Sergeant. If you noticed her damaged leg, you would see that she is unable to comply with your order, as it has completely seized up." The unknown young man stated with a hint of venom. Jenny thought the man was intriging: He wore civilian clothes, and yet had a 'Skyway Patrol Maintenance Crew' embroidery on the upper left front of his shirt. His insignia on his shoulders signified he was only a Corporal, yet he acted like he was ranked above the Sergeant.

_'They must be pretty desperate for members if they are keeping him instead of giving him a Dishonerable Discharge.' _Jenny thought to herself. The Sergeant was visibly angered at the Corporal's actions, but calmed himself before turning to him.

"Corporal Silva, you may not be part of my fire team; you may only be here on maintenance and diagnostic duty for the crashed aircraft, but you are STILL under my command! Do you understand me?" The Sergeant spat at him.

"...Yeah, sure, whatever. All that crap can wait though, until I fix that robot's leg." the Corporal responded stoically. Once the Corporal finished and began to approach Jenny, a tense and awkward silence filled the air over the amount of insubordination demonstrated by him. Jenny and Mrs. Wakeman had lowered their arms and their jaws dropped at the sheer power of the silence. Noticing the extended silence himself, the Corporal stopped halfway to Jenny and looked back at the rest of the soldiers. "Shouldn't you guys be setting up a perimeter around the scene of the crash or something?" he stated flatly. At this, the Sergeant's fire team, and a second Corporal's fire team, scrambeled around the area ensuring no unwanted guests were around, completely forgetting that Jenny, Brad, and Mrs. Wakeman were standing in the middle of the area. The Sargeant went into a fit of rage and began speaking angrily into a radio. The Corporal shook his head, and resumed approaching the three.

"Corporal Silva was it? My name is Noreen Wakeman, and I must appologize for the intrusion on the scene like this, however the striken aircraft collided with my daughter further up this hill when it slammed into the ground, and the cockpit had pinned her. Me and this lad came to help her escape from her situation." Mrs. Wakeman explained to the Corporal, when he finally arrived at them.

"Yeah, don't worry about it too much. The Sergeant like to sound cool and stuff to impress the Privates. Even if it means pushing around civilians when he knows exactly why they are where they are." The Corporal replied with a look of 'I'm-really-sorry-about-that'. While Brad was straining to keep his hands in the air, Jenny proceeded to look over Corporal Silva, as he and Mrs. Wakeman were having a conversation about his knowledge in Robotics. Jenny's anatomy detection systems told her that he was extremely fit, and would be capable of lifting very large weights. She also noticed his stylishly messy, blonde hair, his jade green eyes.

_'Oh, he is so HOT! The only things that could top Don is his height! I have to ask him! Oh, I have to ask how old he is too! EEEEII!'_ Jenny thought, and just as she was about to ask, she noticed that Corporal Silva, Mrs. Wakeman, and Brad, who was STILL holding his hands up, were giving her funny looks. As Jenny was trying to figure out what she did, the Corporal turned to Mrs. Wakeman.

"Does she make that 'Eeei' sound and do little dances often?" he cautiously asked Mrs. Wakeman.

"Only when she is being a Teenage girl..." Mrs. Wakeman sighed. Blushing with an immense blue hue, Jenny recollected herself.

"Uhm, uhm...was there something you wanted, Corporal Silva?" Jenny asked shyly.

"Well, as I asked 4 times before when you were in dreamland...could you sit on the Mobile Robotic Repair Station? I need to take a look at that leg." the Corporal asked, wondering if she was going to do a jig again. Complying with his request, Jenny hopped up onto the MRRS, and dragged her crushed leg up onto it.

"Can you fix it? It doesn't hurt now, but its pretty sore." Jenny probed. After a few minutes of the Corporal examining her leg, he gave a scientific _'Hmmm..' _and then raised back up.

"Well, sorry to say that leg it completely totaled. You'd be better off melting it down and re-casting it for spare parts. Some more bad news is, if it isn't removed, all your fluids will drain out from holes in the tubing, before a suitable replacement for your leg can be made, which would make you REALLY want to shut down then." the Corporal explained in the same way a Doctor explains to his paitent.

"So, wait, I'm in danger of critically damaging my other components if I don't enter sleep mode? Thats a downer..." Jenny moped.

"Well, its not all bad. You see those legs your mother brought out? Don't they look familiar?"

"Those legs...?" Jenny glanced around, and found them. After looking at them for a few seconds, she realised what the Corporal was talking about. "H-Hey! Those legs are duplicates of my own! How?" The Corporal glanced away with a concerned look on his face. After a few seconds, he confirmed something to himself, and returned his gaze to the trio before him.

"...What I'm about to tell you is very hush-hush in the Skyway Patrol. Very few know about it, and I shouldn't be one of those few."


	4. 4 Secrets

After giving the trio a serious look for a moment, the Corporal started his story.

"The day your mother reported the XJ-9 Master plans were stolen from your household, Skyway Patrol intercepted a Cluster Spaceship. It was an extremely advanced aircraft, having protection against any type of detection we currently possess. The only way we knew it was where it was, was due to some of our members actually seeing it zip across the skyline, and reported it. When the aircraft was again spotted, it crashed into a mountainside, and at that point, a boarding team was immediately created. I managed to get a hold of the report of what the boarding party had said was inside, and some really crazy stuff was inside by what I gleaned off of it."

"Was there super cool robot guns and stuff?" Brad interrupted with intense curiosity.

"...Well, some of the weapons on board WERE crazy, but they didn't hold a CANDLE to half of the other stuff in there. Anyways, continuing on...the boarding team found a variety of odd mining equipment, some of it very large." The Corporal had continued, before being interrupted yet again.

"Whats your height! How old are you? Whats your first name? Where-" Jenny had begun in a torrent of questions, but was stopped by the Corporal letting out a yell of annoyance.

"Fer' christ sake, people! Do you suddenly not want to hear what I have to say about these legs? Seriously, all that A/S/L crap can wait for later!" Corporal Silva shouted out loud, before he realised he caused himself a problem.

"Oh, a story! What story is it, sir?" Shouted one of the slower soldiers. The rest of them knew immediately what 'story' he was telling, and gave him looks of disbelief, anger, or dissapointment. Corporal Silva closed his eyes, and crossed his arms.

"...Well, shit. This is going to go from bad to worse quickly..." He mumbled. Not being far off the mark, the Sergeant burst out yelling in fury at his face, with his own being beat red.

"CORPORAL! HOW DARE YOU REVEAL TOP SECRET INFORMATION TO CIVILIANS! I'M GOING TO HAVE YOU COURT MARSHALLED WHEN I'M THRO-"

"I'm going to kindly ask you to get out of my face, Sargeant." the Corporal whispered in a deadly tone to the angry beast infront of him. Returning to a normal volume, Corporal Silva continued. "As way to explain my actions, please recall Section 8932, Sub-Section 32, Portion F of the Skyway Patrol Code of Secrecy. 'The only time a member of the Skyway Patrol can pass on Confidential, Secret, and Top Secret, is when he or she must pass it off to a higher-up, forwarding it to it's intended recipiant, or requiring advice on how to act on Confidential, Secret, or Top Secret information from a senior member of Skyway Patrol'. Go ahead, Sergeant. Check it out."

"Oh, I WILL check it out, Corporal. And if it turns out you're wrong, or you abused a loophole, I won't have you Court Marshalled, I'll have you dishonerably discharged!" shouted the Sergeant, who promptly walked away and started blabbering on the radio. The Corporal turned back to see Brad, Jenny, and Mrs. Wakeman still stunned at the event that just occured before them.

"Okay, seeing as I abused the fact that 'Senior Members' are not clearly defined as being being ACTIVE members when it is insinuated...quick version of my story, so I'm not forced to shut up by law." The Corporal had started, but was stopped by Mrs. Wakeman.

"You do realise that you are going to be dismissed from the force if you continue, Corporal?" Mrs. Wakeman said with a concerned tone and worried look.

"I do, but at this point, it doesn't matter. I was given one last warning about disrespecting the Sergeant, so no matter what I do, I'm boned." Corporal Silva said flatly. "Anyways, as I was saying, they found freaky weapons, mining equipment, and so on. Worse more, is they found evidence of robot cannibalism."

"Robot c-cannibalism?" stuttered Jenny. She proceeded to wrap her arms around herself and look around with a worried look.

"Yeah, robot cannibalism. But you know what else they found, weirder than all of that? A wall in the ship, with a single blueprint and an accompanying picture stuck to it with a phrase above them. The blueprints were the XJ-9 Master Plans, and the picture was of XJ-9, through a window into a classroom." The Corporal explained. Curious to find out what the phrase was, Mrs. Wakeman pressed on.

"What...was the phrase, Corporal Silva?" With a dark look, Corporal Silva replied.

"'...for He whom creates life, invading the Lord Almighty's domain, will be swallowed by Hell's fires along with his abomination.'"


	5. 5 Dismissed!

**My longest chapter so far! What do you guys think so far of the story, even though it's just begun? Did I make small mistakes I should correct in the future? Please leave a review once you finish this chapter!**

* * *

"The entire boarding party felt it was a direct threat to not only XJ-9 here, but to you as well, Noreen." Corporal Silva finished. All four of them were quiet for a moment, unable to believe what was just said.

"So, uhm...what happened to Jenny's plans?" Brad asked, trying to break the ice.

"...Jenny's plans? Is that what you call yourself, XJ-9? Jenny?" The Corporal asked.

"Yeah, I prefer it to XJ-9, too. So, you know, it'd be nice if you could call me Jenny." Jenny said quickly, visibly excited over the direct conversation between herself and Corporal Silva.

"Err, alright. Jenny it is, then." Corporal Silva said nervously. "now, your plans were supposed to be returned to you, but due to the retarded amounts of paperwork needed to do anything, that didn't happen before we started receiving some pictures of the insides of Top Secret areas, accompanied by more cryptic phrases that looked like they belonged in a bible." once Corporal Silva finished, Mrs. Wakeman sighed, and looked at him with her eyes narrowed.

"Allow me to hazard a guess; they duplicated XJ-9's plans, didn't they?" she said with an annoyed tone.

"Exactly. They've also been making changes, but to be honest...all for the worse. Nearly every single prototype they put out fails spectacularly. Most of their issues are within the robot's mind. One of the prototypes actually thought a magma pit was a hot tub, jumped in and screamed 'BANZAI!', and was promptly melted by said magma, due to it's inferior armour. Another incident occured within the small number of remote successes, where one of the robot's mind got corrupted, and it ripped off or smashed the heads of a considerable number of the already small number of functional rip-offs. Those that were left were mostly relegated to either maintenance or upkeep of Skyway Patrol facilities. This brings me to why you found legs in the cockpit: another one of the 'functional' copies went...insane I guess you could call it, while it was flying the aircraft to a base up north." finished Corporal Silva. Jenny and Brad had their mouths slightly open in suprise at what they just heard, while Mrs. Wakeman didn't look the least bit suprised.

"I'm not the least bit suprised. The Skyway Patrol hasn't been able to do anything correctly since I left. The last time anything productive was done was when I-" Mrs. Wakeman had started, but was rudely cut off by the Sergeant's triumphant return.

"Well, Corporal, I was right! You abused that definition issue! So I went ahead and asked the GENERAL to tender your dismissal, and he AGREED! No more Skyway Patrol for YOU, Leo Silva!" the Sergeant shouted with glee. At this, Leo Silva smiled widely, causing the Sergeant to become a little confused.

"Well, Sergeant...thank you for freeing me from the shackles of ineptitude! Allow me to return my insignias." Leo said, beaming as he ripped off his rank and his Mechanic badge. Once he removed anything that linked him to Skyway Patrol, he chucked them at the Sergeant. "Have a good life, Sergeant." Leo said with a smile. Once the Sergeant walked away slowly looking very confused, Leo turned back to Brad, Jenny, and Mrs. Wakeman.

"I'm not going to be able to swap out that leg now, as its Skyway Patrol property, but I can stem the flow of fluids leaking from your leg, fix that jamming and I'll help you get to your car. But from there on, it's up to your mother." Leo had explained the Jenny, in much the same way a doctor speaks to a paitent.

"If you fix the jam, I can walk you know. I'm not that messed up, I've totally functioned on worse." Jenny stated, trying to impress Leo. Sadly for her, it got quite the reverse.

"You will do no such thing! If you stress the leg enough, the metal may fracture, ripping your fluid tubes even further! You would be in a very bad position, very quickly. Until you get a new leg, I want you to stay off your bad leg." Leo said crossly, giving Jenny a 'the Doctor is serious' look. Giving in to Leo's demands, Jenny let him proceed working on her leg. Leo Immediately pulled out a roll of Duct Tape and plumber's putty and sealed up any exposed and damaged areas of her various fluid lines. Finding some areas that were completely severed, Leo pulled out a small smolder and some clear tubing, and melted the lines together again. Not finding any visible openings in her lines, Leo pulled out a fluid pressure sensor, which gave him signs that Jenny was no longer leaking fluids. Leo then moved up towards her upper leg, and replaced damaged wiring that was shorting out, causing the jam. After making some small diagnostic checks, he was satisfied that everything was done correctly. Mrs. Wakeman stood in awe, and Jenny just stared wide-eyed.

"Okay, so, you should be good to go for now, but remember! Don't stress that leg! Duct Tape and melted tubes can only do so much!" Leo finished, and looked up. "Uhm...whats wrong? Did I somehow...do something wrong?" Leo worried aloud, crouching back over to critique his handywork again.

"No, nothing is wrong...its just the speed at which you repaired her! That was amazing! Your motion was fluid!" Mrs. Wakeman said breathlessly.

"..really? I thought everyone worked that fast.." Leo said while he looked at his work again, slightly confused.

"We're not kidding around, Mr. Silva. You worked way faster than my mom would have under the same conditions." Jenny complimented. Looking annoyed, Leo raised back up again, looking at Jenny.

"Okay, look, you can call me Leo, okay? None of that 'Mr. Silva' crap. I only accepted 'Corporal Silva' because I would have heard it regardless."

"Sounds cool, Leo, sounds cool..." Brad suddenly said, causing Jenny to jump.

"Jeeze, I forgot you were here Brad! You should talk more!" Jenny said to Brad, half smiling.

"Well, I actually left at one point to check on Tuck. He is still convinced he is going to get eaten by a 10 eyed monster, so we should get back." Brad explained.

"Indeed, you have school tomorrow! We need to hurry home so you can sleep." Mrs. Wakeman said as she started up the hill yawning. Shrugging at each other, Brad helped Leo push the floating MRRS up the hill towards their car. Once they arrived, Leo and Brad helped Jenny ease into the passenger seat, and Leo gave her a container to rest her leg on for the rest of the journey home. Once Mrs. Wakeman got into the car seat, and Brad was buckeled in, Mrs. Wakeman turned to look at Leo from Jenny's side of the car.

"I just remembered! The Skyway Patrol lets dismissed members find their own way the second they are let go. Did you need a place to stay?"

"Thanks for the offer, Noreen, but I have places that will take me in and give me work. Take care now, alright?"

"We'll be careful, Leo. Besides, the Bradster is here, so everything is cool." Brad said while attempting to act cool.

"Err...right. Anyways, drive safe!"


	6. 6 The Big Bang

Sorry about the huge wait guys! I was extremely busy with work, Christmas shopping, and managing game servers that I didn't get much time to write! Enjoy this chapter, okay?

1 YEAR LATER...

WARNING - NERVE SYSTEM APPROACHING NEGATIVE TEMPERATURE THRESHOLD. COMMAND SHIVER EXECUTED - INITIALIZING HEATING COILS.

Noticing the warning splashed across her Heads Up Display, Jenny decided to outright shut off her nerves. As awesome as it was to feel, the sensation of the cold was no longer appealing to her. She re-initialized her heating coils to prevent any damage to the nerves, as the last thing she wanted to do was explain to her mom why they needed to be replaced again. For the 7th time this month. Glancing around herself, Jenny spotted a large, and very tall, snowbank in a clearing. Believing to have the upperhand on her target, she disengaged her caterpillar tracks and crouched in some leafless bushes. Laying there for a few minutes, she became convinced she had not been spotted. Quickly getting up from her hiding spot, Jenny ran towards the fortress of snow as she engaged a biological scanner. Jenny was roughly halfway between the wall of the icy fortress and the trees, when her scan finished and the results made her gasp:

SCAN COMPLETE: 78 HUMAN BIOLOGICAL SIGNATURES FOUND

Just as she was sliding to a stop to hightail it away from the huge snowfort, a triumphant Tucker appeared, followed by his friends, as well as Brad. "Tsk, tsk. You fell for my trap, Jenny! You won't escape this time!" Tucker shouted down to the ground. Turning around, Tucker took a deep breath and puffed out his chest. "FFFIIIIIRRRREEEE!" Tucker shouted at the top of his lungs at his 'Artillery'. Seeing the wall of snowballs falling towards her, Jenny attempted to escape, but she only fell backwards as her feet had gotten stuck in the snow. Before she could even let out a peep, she was promptly buried by hundreds of snowballs.

"BOOYAH! We win again, Jenny!" Brad shouted down at the snowpile. Cupping his mit-covered hand around his left ear, Bradly strained to listen for a response. Hearing none, he and Tucker became a little worried.

"Uhh...heh...Jenny, you can come out now, you know. We've stopped throwing snow-" Tucker had started, before some of his soldiers had cried out in suprise.

"SUPRISE ARTILLERY ASSAULT FROM THE REAR! RUNNN!" One of the boys shouted. Brad and Tucker looked towards their North wall in sheer terror, as it proceeded to collapse due to being compromised by a barrage of snowballs. A snowball machine gun tank on caterpillers burst through the snow pile with Jenny appearing from the hatch waist up. A very, VERY angry-looking Jenny.

"Did we NOT agree to bury me in snow this time? HUH? Remember how much trouble I got in the last time, when the sheer cold wreaked my last set of nerves? You're lucky I shut them off beforehand!" Jenny had screamed at the pair. When she saw the only reply she was getting from the two was a pair of twiddling thumbs, she screamed in rage, and promptly leveled the rest of the fort. Upon destroying the last tower, she returned into her normal form and stomped off, still fuming. 10 minutes later, once everyone had been dug out from the snow, Brad and Tuck slumped off towards home.

After Brad turned on the oven and placed some lasagna inside to cook. Glancing out his kitchen window, he could see Jenny sitting on the ledge outside of her bedroom windows. Still feeling bad about ignoring her when she asked them not to bury her, Brad proceeded to don his winter gear, and head out the door. Once he got over there, he saw that Jenny was pretending not to see him, so he grabbed the ladder he left behind for the occasions he climbed to her window. Once he got up to the ledge, he had to cough to get her to finally look at him. Recoiling slightly from her heated glare, Brad plucked up the courage to speak.

"So...I'm sorry about not listening to you. I feel really bad about it..." Brad had started, continuing to avert his gaze from Jenny's glare. Deciding to continue with his appology, even though he felt the need to leave quickly, Brad thought about what to say next. "...Ssssoooo...I was wondering if you would...ahhh...like to come over and eat some lasagna with me and Tuck?" Brad crossed his fingers behind his back, hoping that she would forgive him. Jenny's expression did change, however it changed to one Brad hadn't anticipated. Jenny look away from Brad, towards the ground, with a look of sadness.

"Thats sweet Brad, but...I don't eat, remember?"

"Oh, crud, thats right...man, that was tactful." Brad said while slapping his hand to his forehead. Jenny giggeled a little, and hugged Brad.

"Thanks for appolgizing, Brad. I do appreciate the offer of dinner as well." Jenny had said with a smile, and with some much-welcomed warmth towards him as well. Just as Brad was about to reply, he got cut off by a shiver racking his body.

"Ooouh...I've got to get back inside my house. You should too, so your nerve thingies don't break" Brad said, while he stepped onto the ladder.

"You mean the ones Tucker and you broke again?" Jenny stated with a smile.

"Oh no...you didn't get in trouble again, did you?" Brad said cringing, worried he got his friend into trouble yet again.

"No, not this time. My mom saw how angry I was, and after I explained what happened she got annoyed about ficing them again, but said I wasn't to blame. She sure isn't happy with you and Tucker though, so you should take off before she shows up at my door and looks out."

"Okay, as long as you're not in trouble...I'll appologize to your mom tomorrow, okay?"

"I'll hold you to it, Brad." Jenny said giggling. Her mother would probably start beating him with the nearest broom when he came over. Watching her friend head back across the street, Jenny was about to head back into her room, when something on the road caught her eye. A cement mixer was zipping down the road, right towards Brad! "BRAD! LOOK OUT!" Jenny shouted in fear. When he didn't reply, she noticed he had slipped his Musique on and wouldn't hear her at all, or the truck. Time was running out, and Jenny only had one option. Without hesitating, she dashed over, embraced a now confused Brad into a tight hug, and proceeded to be hit by the truck, which ended up folding around her.


	7. 7 The Game Plan

EXTREME FORCE DETECTED ON MULTIPLE ACCELEROMETERS-SIMPLE DIAGNOSTICS INITIATED:

B.R.A.I.N.: OKAY  
MEMORY BANKS: OKAY  
GYROSCOPES: MINIMAL DAMAGE  
TRANSFORM CORE: CRITICAL DAMAGE  
WEAPONS SYSTEMS: CRITICAL DAMAGE  
LIMBS: NON RESPONSIVE AREAS

ERROR 46: FINE MOTOR CONTROLLER IN RIGHT HAND NOT RESPONDING.  
ERROR 52: ALL MOTORS IN LEFT ARM NOT RESPONDING.  
ERROR 53: FLUID(S) LEAK DETECTED IN LEFT ARM.  
ERROR 64: SEIZED MOTOR(S) DETECTED IN LEFT LEG.  
ERROR 67: SHORT-CURCUIT DETECTED IN GPS/COMMUNICATION DEVICE.

COMMUNICATING CRITICAL STATE TO 'MOM'...FAILED (E00067).  
COMMUNICATING CRITICAL STATE TO 'MOM'...FAILED (E00067).  
COMMUNICATING CRITICAL STATE TO 'MOM'...FAILED (E00067).  
RETURNING

After diagnostics had allowed her to regain 'conciousness', Jenny found that the front end of the truck had completely enclosed herself and brad in a metal cucoon. When Brad noticed Jenny had come to, he smiled at her.

"Hey, thanks Jenny! I guess I had my musique too loud and couldn't hear...whatever this thing is." Brad said in a happy tone, not noticing that Jenny was not impressed by his display of stupidity. Jenny proceeded to use her functioning leg and arm to pry herself and Brad loose. Concerned for the driver, she hobbeled over to what was left of the cabin, and prepared herself for what she would see. Upon ripping the mangeled door off, Jenny found...nothing. No sign of a human ever having been inside the truck while it was on. Just as she was about to investigate further, she was greated with an error of '**CRITICAL FLUID LEVELS**' started getting a huge amount of other errors popping up onto the screen, and decided to stop her search. Dropping to the ground with a loud CLUNK, Jenny began having issues to continue functioning at all, and started to have errors in her Optical Sensors. The last thing she saw before her optics completely went offline, dropping her into Emergency Diagnostics mode, was the blurred shape of her mother and Brad running towards her.

EXTERNAL DIAGNOSTICS PROGRAM FOUND NO ISSUES. DISENGAGING CONNECTION.  
RETURNING

When Jenny came to, she found her mom, Brad, and Tucker standing around her, staring at her intensely. Still feeling groggy, she rose to a sitting position on her mother's workbench, with her hand placed on her forehead.

"Careful, XJ-9, you have many new parts on you now. You still have to calibrate them." Mrs. Wakeman stated with concern for her daughter's wellbeing. Just as Jenny was about to reply, the lab door flew open with a 5 1/2 foot lanky boy shouting "JENNY!" repeatedly, while running into everything and making a huge mess.

"Huff...huff...I..came..as soon...as I...heard!" the boy said between heaving gasps, while attempting to remove a bucket from his head. Brad and Tucker grabbed hold of him and yanked him free, allowing him to continue. "How are you feeling? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine Sheldon, just a little...groggy, I guess?" Jenny said to the boy, and then turned her attention to her mom. "What happened to me?" Shocked at Jenny's question, Brad replied to the question himself.

"You saved my life from a run away cement truck is what happened!" Brad shouted at her. Jenny could see that Brad was shaken up over the event he claimed occurred, so she looked at her mom for an explanation for her memory loss.

"Your internal diagnostics program won't check to see if what is in your temporary memory has been saved to your memory banks, and won't do it for you. When I was creating the code for it to do so, there was a tendancy for corruption to occur, hence why you can have 'blackouts' in your memory." her mother had explained. Her mother had then looked at her watch and made a double take at what it told her. "Gah! That scientific documentary on robotics history is on! XJ-9, calibrate yourself, and then if you feel up to it you can entertain your friends if you wish. You can have to night off, you need to rest for now."

"Hey, Mom, one quick question...?" Jenny prompted her mother, and figuring the look her mother gave her as a 'yes?', she continued. "Why is it that...I've been falling apart and gettign dented so easily this past while? First that ship from last year took out my leg, then there was that machine sent by Vexus that I only just managed to defeat and hold myself up while she escaped, before I crashed. And now this cement truck with no driver." Jenny asked in a sad tone, and finished with her true question: "Mom, am I...outdated?"

Visibly unsure of how to approach the subject with her friends, Mrs. Wakeman came up with a hasty answer. "I'll talk to you about that later, XJ-9, when your friends have left."

"Okay mom, you go enjoy your show." Jenny replied to her mother. Before turning her attention to her friends, Jenny made a series of quick jerks and motions on her new parts. After about 20 seconds of the odd movements, she looked towards her friends, Sheldon being the only one not mystified.

"Thats how Jenny, and any other robots programmed in the same language as her, calibrate their various parts. It can look a little freaky, depending on how the robot looks." Sheldon said intelligently.

"Before I was 'Cold and unfeeling', but now I'm freaky-looking now, huh, Sheldon?" Jenny said abrasively, glaring at Sheldon. Realising his error, Sheldon immediately began to back peddle, digging his hole deeper. Eventually, Jenny cracked a smile and couldn't contain her laughter anymore, prompting Tucker and Brad to break as well.

"Shel, cool your jets man, she was just pulling your leg. She knew what you meant." Brad stated with laughter, while he wiped a tear from his eye.

"Oh, I see. Well, i think we should watch a movie! I heard that Saw3D is airing on the Dusk channel."

"Isn't it that super old, super gory movie? Dude, that movie is like...over 50 years old!" Brad moaned.

"Let's have Jenny decide then!" Sheldon exclaimed. The three boys looked at Jenny, waiting for a reply. Jenny looked at her three companions, and then looked down in shame.

"I...really don't like gore. It makes me freak out. Mom said she coded that into me on purpose, so that I was never tempted to go on a murderous rampage." Jenny said, feeling bad that she ruined her friends plans. However, when she looked up, she was surprised to see them smiling.

"Guys," Brad said in an attempt to sound macho, "I think we should help Jenny with her fear of gore!"


	8. 8 Silent Night

"W-w-w-wait! Don't you guys wanna, uhh... Watch that robot science Thingy with my Mom?" Jenny shouted, attempting to back-peddle, while her friends strained in their effort to drag Jenny to the television.

"Normally I would watch robot science documentaries, but I'll pass, just so you have someone to cling onto in fear." Sheldon swooned. Digging her feet into the ground (and sending Tucker and Brad tumbling), Jenny looked at Sheldon in disgust.

"I'll watch...that movie...but only if Tucker sits next to me...and I get an end of the couch!" Jenny exclaimed. Brad and Tucker made some whoop sounds, while they dragged Jenny off, leaving Sheldon to wallow in failure at his latest attempt at Jenny's heart.

"Well...at least she is going to watch the movie now. Maybe Tucker will freak out and have to go home."

"OH MY GOD! OHMYGOD, OHMYGOD, OHMYGOD! That thing is supposed to hit her, isn't it? Get out of there, girl! EEKKK, IT'S STARTING UP! Oh man...oh man, OH MAN! IT'S GONNA-AHHH, IT HIT HER!"

"Jeeze, Jen. You're freaking out more than Tucker! You need to reeelaaaax. Nothing to fear, either! The Bradster is here." Brad said with a relaxed and smooth tone. Jenny wasn't listening, however, as she was too busy covering her face with a pillow. Just as Sheldon was reaching around Tucker to place his arm around Jenny, the power went out. In his surprise, he grasped Jenny's shoulder hard, causing her to shriek, promptly followed by her pummeling the rest of Sheldon out of reaction. After a search for everyone in the dark, a first aid kit, and some bandages later, everyone collected in the atrium where the annual Menution invasion was again dealt with a few months ago.

"I should probably head back home, guys. My Grandma might need some help." Sheldon said with a sigh. Just as Brad was about to say something on the subject, Mrs. Wakeman made an appearance.

"Not in this weather, you're not. It's a full blown blizzard out there! Mr. Lee, I phoned your Grandmother at the beginning of the outage, and she requested you stay the night. You two are spending the night here, as well, particularly since your parents are out of the country."

Mrs. Wakeman Stated in a tone of finality. Turning her gaze to focus on Jenny, Mrs. Wakeman spoke again. "XJ-9, I need to speak with you in private, immediately."

Thrown by her mother's sudden request, Jenny made a hasty 'be right back' motion to Brad and company. Following her mother to the linen closet located on the top floor in silence, she became uneasy. Had she done something wrong, or was it what she had asked about? Was she outdated? Unable to stand the silence any longer, Jenny broke the ice.

"So...what is it you wanted to talk about, mom?" Jenny asked with a sheepish grin. Worried about the reply, she also started scratching the back of her head. When her mother span around, Jenny flinched, but she was surprised to see a look completely different than what she expected.

"What's the Boys name, XJ-9?" Mrs. Wakeman demanded with a devilish grin.

"Boy? What boy?" Jenny said with a cocked eyebrow.

"Oh, please, XJ-9! It was even reported on the Tremorton News at 9! It interrupted my documentary! How you're in contact with an extremely handsome and rich teenager! What's his name?"

Extremely confused now, all Jenny managed to stammer was an "I-I, but I..." before being cut off by her mother.

"Oh, fine XJ-9, don't tell me...just be careful who you interact with!" Mrs. Wakeman said happily, while she returned to the basement with linens, blankets, and pillows. Jenny stood, rooted to the spot, looking extremely dumbfounded.

"A rich, handsome guy? Maybe Don Prima...? Ohh, I'll figure out that mystery later."

Upon returning to the basement where the three boys were setting up their makeshift beds, Jenny handed them all flashlights. "I know you guys have been in my house alot, and know the layout during the day, but...the house is really different in the dark. I got lost in it during my first night watch." Jenny stated, recalling her panic in the dark with a shudder. Noticing Jenny didn't have one for herself, Sheldon jumped up in an attempt to be a gentleman.

"I noticed that you don't have one Jenny, so if you need anything during the night, feel free to wake me up! It won't bother me in the slightest." Sheldon stated proudly, with his chest puffed out. Jenny slouched over at Sheldon's latest attempt, and in a lazy response flicked her eyes over into flashlight mode.

"Thanks for the offer Sheldon, but I'm fine with these." Jenny stated boredly. After a few moments more of getting the boys comfy, Jenny brought out a couple board games.

"My mom had these stashed away somewhere and handed them to me. I don't think they're working right though, I looked at them earlier and the silly things wouldn't turn on." Jenny said in a defeated tone. Brad and Tucker looked at each other and laughed, but Sheldon looked at them angrily.

"Its not her fault! Shes only been around 7 years!" Sheldon shouted in her defence. Looking back at Jenny, Sheldon began to explain.

"Most older board games don't have electronic parts to them Jenny, they work by manually moving the parts with your hands and fingers. These, for example," Sheldon was saying as he grabbed some whiteish cubes, "are dice. You shake them in your hand and let go of them. They end up telling you a number, and you use that number to do various functions in the games, depending on the game itself. Sometimes its how many spaces you move your little character, sometimes its to tell you how much damage you inflict on an enemy player's character. There are rules for board games which also tell you how to play. Which game did you want to look at first?" In response to Sheldon's question, Jenny took a look at the stack of games they had, and picked on at random.

"This one, maybe...? Its so dusty and worn, I can't tell what game it is." Jenny said in a tone of curiosity. After opening up the box, the four friends found that the game was called Monopoly.

"Monopoly..? I think I've heard of this game before, in History class." Brad mentioned with his eyebrows scrunched. The group took about half an hour trying to figure out how to set the game up, and were still not entirely sure what the rules ultimately stated, so they gave up on any of the board games, and took to swapping stories. Jenny was the one who talked, mostly, as once she recalled the story of her first fight, Tucker and Brad pestered her for more stories of adventures, while Sheldon sat in quiet reverence of his Hostess. Just as Jenny was recalling her horrific near death experience on the inside of Armageddroid with Killgore, Jenny's pigtails started moving around. Not skipping a beat, Jenny removed all outbound power cables from her and rushed upstairs to her mother to see what was wrong.

"XJ-9! There is a commercial airliner going down to the south of the carribean country of Toboco! The local authorities have requested your assistance!" Mrs. Wakeman shouted to her daughter as she opened up the ceiling hatch for Jenny to fly out. "You must leave straight away! This is a priority call, there are 154 souls on-board! You cannot fail! We don't have time to attach your extra fuel tanks for your boosters, but you should have enough to land safely and arrange for refuel once you reach the tarmac!" Mrs. Wakeman paused to await clearance for flight from Skyway Patrol, the only section of Skyway Patrol not suffering from the Bureaucracy the rest of the organization has to deal with.

"You are clear for takeoff, G.R.R.U. XJ-9." came the bored voice of an airways controller. Not even waiting for the controller to say "Have a safe flight", Jenny was already in the outskirts of town, battling the feirce blizzard that was constantly knocking her off-course. After finally getting out of the storm system, Jenny looked at her GPS system to see that she had flown over 5 states already, but was facing a bit too far to the east. She shot upwards to space, adjusted her course towards the Carribean, droped towards the earth again, amd began scanning for the aircraft in distress.


	9. 9 XJ9 Distress Call

As Jenny was flying towards the Southern edge of Toboco, Her scanners picked up on the stricken aircraft. Noticing the aircraft was screaming towards the ground, Jenny gasped when she saw why they were out of control: an engine fire had caused a wing to weaken until structural failure set in; the wing had falled off!

Pulling up alongside the aircraft, Jenny grabbed the aircraft where the wing had left it, and yanked hard upwards, attempting to right the jetliner. As soon as thia was completed, she connected her internal radio to the same channel the aircraft was operating it, and messaged the aircraft. Similarly, she connected herself to the Aircraft's P.A. system, so the passengers knew what was going on.

"This is Global Robotic Response Unit XJ-9. I have righted your aircraft, but I must escourt it to the ground. One of your wings have suffered catastrophic structural failure, and is missing completely, so I must take control of the aircraft at this point. Just relax, and this will be over soon."

Once Sheldon, Brad, Tucker, and Mrs. Wakeman heard Jenny send her calming message to the aircraft, they let out a collective sigh of relief that everyone was okay.

"Well, thats that. You boys should head off to bed. XJ-9 won't be back until much later, she'll have to refuel in multiple places along the way to return, as no one has the high quality fuel she typically uses. She'll need to recharge, also, so you probably won't see her until tomorrow morning." Mrs. Wakeman explained to the visibly tired boys. Just as the boys were turning to leave, a proximity alarm suddenly went off. Concerned, Mrs. Wakeman pulled up the info on what may have caused it...

As Jenny was approaching the mountain ranges prior to the runway by about 30 miles, her chest communicator popped out with her mother on the screen, looking worried.

"Whats up mom? I'm doing fine at the moment, but you look worried-"

"No time for that XJ-9, your proximity alarms detected a very small UFO in the area, have you seen it yet?" Mrs. Wakeman probed.

"My proximity alarms went off? I didn't receive a message on my display at all...you sure that the receivers at home are working right? Maybe the blizzard damaged them." Jenny suggested, attempting to ease her mother's worries. Waiting for her mother's reply, Jenny initialized her radar scanners to see if there was anything in the area. Jenny began getting a very faint signature that was almost neglible, but she concentrated on it, trying to get a stronger signal. Still trying to concentrate on it, her mother returned.

"Well, I checked them. They're operating fine, so either YOU are sending faulty signals, or something is there, but you yourself are not getting any alerts. Either way, your alams need a tuneup. Perhaps they got josseled around earlier." Mrs. Wakeman said in a matter-of-factly tone. Looking at her daughter through the display, she saw that Jenny was constantly looking behind her. "XJ-9, are you picking up on something..?"

"I tried out my radar scanner, and I'm picking up on something...really faint, but its tailing me, whatever it is." Jenny said with a suspicious tone.

"XJ-9, if it eases your worries, you could just place the aircraft on the ground temporarily and scan the area visually. It would calm me down atleast, thats for sure." Mrs. Wakeman suggested. Jenny opened her mouth to reply, but she was suddenly slammed from behind by a dark object, and then the screen suddenly went blank, with many visual glitches hopping around. "ECK-JAY-NIYUN! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" Mrs. Wakeman shouted, but received no reply. Suddenly, sound started to come through again, but with horrific sounds. Jenny screaming and yelling, a man's voice spouting non-sense that sounded like it belonged in a a fanatic's bible, and Jenny pleading for the man to stop tearing her back open. Not to remove her jet fuel pump. Not to doom the people on the aircraft. And finally to let her live as well, which the man screamed aloud in direct reply.

"GOD HATES ROBOTS, YOU FREAKISH CREATION OF A SINNER! WHEN YOU DELAYED THE NATURAL DEATHS OF THESE PEOPLE, HE HATED YOU MORE!" he screamed as he jumped off of Jenny's back. The screen suddenly had a few moments or working video with a few glitches, where the group in Tremorton could see the trauma done to Jenny's back, and the oily tears of pain treaking down her face. When the screen suddenly blanked out again, The entire group was frozen in disbelief at what just occured, and felt helpless as they heard Jennifer Wakeman plummuted to the ground screaming for help. When she finally collided with the ground, there was sounds of multiple people screaming, metallic screeching and shredding, and then a silence only broken by a weak plea from Jenny.

"Help...me..."

2 HOURS LATER...

"The Blizzard is gone! Someone HAS to help her! If no one does, I'LL GO!" Shouted a desperate Sheldon Lee. Brad quickly backed him up.

"Yeah! We're not doing anything, and no one seems to be actively canvasing the mountains! Its time Jenny had someone save HER!" Brad yelled fiercely at Mrs. Wakeman.

"I'm as worried as you three are! I'm her mother! But we have NO idea where they landed, and we're being forced to stay inside by Skyway Patrol Personell who've been posted here for security! We CAN'T leave!" Mrs. Wakeman shouted in a tearful reply. Unable to accept those conditions, Sheldon stormed into the basement.

"Guys, follow me!" Sheldon said in a commanding tone. All too ready to comply if Sheldon had a plan, Brad and Tucker ran downstairs.

"You got a plan, Sheldon? I'm not going to sit around anymore." Brad asked aggresively, with a 'Yeah, me too!' from an equally eager Tucker.

"You bet I do! We have all the stuff we'll need in my garage, but getting there will be tricky...we'll need a distraction. What it'll be, I'm not sure. But I have an idea to try.." Sheldon said, glancing at Tucker.

30 MINUTES LATER...

"BUT I WANNA GO SLEDDING! YOU'RE SO MEAN, YOU WON'T LET ME GO SLEDDING!" Screamed an angry Tuck. He began to cry and sob extensively, causing the security guards posted at the front of the house to become unsure of how to deal with Tucker. When they had their backs turned, Sheldon and Brad snuck out the front door and booked it down the street. The duo continued to run down streets and corners until they reached Sheldon's house.


	10. 10 Waterworks

**A/N: Longest chapter. So far. 3,373 words in the chapter itself, minus my author's note. I plan on trying to have my chapters a little longer and more fleshed out. I've been noticing a couple superficial loose ends, and how sometimes some of my things seem thrown in purely for drama and whatnot. I'll try to have those written up a little bit better. The story is also moving a little too quickly for my liking, so I'm going to have to find ways to slow it down. Anyways, someone please reveiw my work! Please? I'll hand you a cookie if you do.**

* * *

Sheldon opened up the door to his garage, and promptly started grabbing all sorts of boxes. He pointed out a few things he had stored on a self that he wanted Brad to grab. As soon as everything was together, Sheldon worked on an exo suit for Brad at a pace that was a blur to both of them. About 10 minutes later, pleased with his work and having pushed his prowess to it's limits, Sheldon handed Brad his transportation and weaponry for the mission.

"Sheldon, this is awesome! With this, we'll get Jenny back home safe in no time!" Brad said happily, showering Sheldon even further with praise when he had it donned. Glancing back at him, Brad noticed he wasn't wearing a thing. "Wheres yours..?" Brad questioned. Looking over at the large object hidden underneath a cloth, Sheldon walked over to it, and gripped the cloth in his hands. He stopped just short of pulling it down and looked at Brad pleadingly.

"Please, you can't tell anyone...especially Jenny.." Sheldon said sadly. Not waiting for a reply from Brad, he pulled down the cloth to expose the Silver Shell.

"Shel...YOU'RE the Silver Shell? Why didn't I see it before! SHELdon, Silver SHELL..." Brad said breathlessly. Looking at his friend, he walked over and gripped his shoulder. "Your secret is safe with me buddy. Suit up, and let's rock and roll!"

* * *

After they collected some cans of oil and other fluids, and some spare parts, it only took the duo another two minutes to reach approximately where Jenny had made contact with the airliner, trying to figure out where to fly around next.

"Ugh, where could she have flown to next..? This is where the GPS data trail ends, so it must have been jammed...meaning someone expected some form of a rescue attempt...but where did she go! The mountain range is so exspansive!" The Silver Shell's smooth voice said in fustration and desperation.

"Sheldon, chill out. IF we're gonna save Jenny, we need clear heads." Brad said in a calming voice. The two boys thought for a moment, and then Brad got an idea. "Have you tried seeing which airport was closest...?" At this the Silver Shell perked up, picking up where Brad left off.

"...and compare it's location to our own and see which direction to try! Brad, you're a genius!" Shell exclaimed happily. Pulling up an internal screen, Sheldon tapped in the query in a number of search engines, and wait...and waited...and waited...until all of them came up with a 418 Internet error. The next thing Brad heard from the Silver Shell made him double take. "418 I'm a Teapot? What the hell kind of Internet error is THAT? Whoever attacked Jenny must be behind these wacky errors...covering their tracks. Maybe this is why Skyway Patrol couldn't find her." Shell said in a defeated tone. 'Hmmm'ing to himself, Brad came up with another idea.

"Aren't the Klondike islands near Toboco? I have a pamphlet of the Klondike islands because I was going to ask you and Jenny if you wanted to go there during Holidays. Just lemme fish it out here..." Brad said as he began digging his hands into his pants from inside his exo suit. "Heh, its a bit cramped in here...lets see...Ahah! I was right! It shows the southern end of Toboco as well and it's airports! It even has a GPS grid! Whats our coordinates?"

"We are currently...Latitude 20.5, Longtitude -54.5. I've rounded those, but it should be quite close." Shell replied, awaiting an answer, and was chomping at the bit to get moving. Beginning to get impatient, the Silver Shell began pacing in the air.

"Hold on buddy, almost done...ah! The Palamacosta airport was closest! Its NorthWest, North of our position!" Brad exclaimed in excitement. Not waiting for his partner to get ready, Sheldon pointed the Silver Shell in the direction indicated and shot off yelling like a maniac.

"HANG ON JENNY, WE'RE COMMINGGGGG!"

* * *

After looking around the mountainous reigons for a full hour, the pair had come up empty. Getting fustrated at their lack of progress, The Silver Shell, shot a full powered Ion cannon at a mountain top, making it atleast 100 feet shorter.

"Did that make you feel any better, Sheldon?" Brad asked dejectedly. Shaking his head, the Silver Shell replied.

"Not in the slightest...Oh, Jenny, where are you..." Sheldon said sadly, looking across the landscape before him. Just as he began looking around for another possibility of where she could be on the ground before him, his cell phone rang out. Checking the number, he found that it was Jenny's house that was calling. "Hey, Brad, I think Mrs. Wakeman is calling me..hold on. Hello?"

"Hows...the search going...Mr. Lee" a tired and evidently sobbing Mrs. Wakeman asked.

"Not well at all...we found that whoever attacked her covered his tracks well. Even the weak lead we have, it was found by pure luck. All search engines pop out silly errors when you try searching Toboco, but Brad had an obsession with the Klondike Islands and had a map of them with him, giving us a clue...past that, not a single. Damn. THING!" Sheldon shouted out loud in fustration. "Oh, sorry Mrs. Wakeman, I didn't mean to yell into the phone.."

"Its alright, Mr. Lee...would you like another clue? Maybe it'll help you..."

"Anything will help! Anything!" Sheldon begged, hoping against hope that this would be valuable.

"Well, I'm still getting little bursts of status alerts from XJ-9...I can tell she is trying to conserve energy, but attempting to cry out as well. I keep getting warnings about her being partially submerged, so she may be on a lakeshore, or a river bank. Its also very fresh water, nearly particle free, so she may be closer to a mountain top." Mrs. Wakeman told him.

"Oh gosh! That should be helpful!" Sheldon announced. "Brad! Is there any lakes or rivers here in the southern end?" he barked at his partner. As Brad was looking feverishly over the map and counting the locations in their general area, Mrs. Wakeman had more information for Sheldon.

"One more thing, Mr. Lee...time is of the essence. If the status update bursts are to be believed, then XJ-9...Jenny, does not have much power left. Maybe another hour, tops. If she looses power completely in the current state shes in, her memory will be wiped forever. Essentially, the girl you know will...die." At this, Sheldon's heart froze. He recited what her heard to Brad. Both friends looked at eachother in absolute horror.

"Shel, we have to go now...SHEL, WE HAVE TO GO NOW, HANG UP THE PHONE AND HURRY YOUR SORRY ASS UP! I'M NOT LOSING MY FRIEND!" Brad screamed. Sheldon snapped out of it, and brought the phone to his ear.

"We have to go, now, Mrs. Wakeman! We'll phone you when we find her!" Sheldon said quickly, and snapped the phone closed. At a coffee table in Tremorton, Tucker was clinging to Mrs. Wakeman, crying softly about his friend's fate. Mrs. Wakeman brought the phone down infront of her, and stared at it.

"Please find my daughter, boys...please..."

* * *

30 MINUTES LATER...

"JENNY! JENNY, WHERE ARE YOU! Oh god, p-please don't let her die like this!" Brad said, stammering slightly and crying. "Bradley, please stay calm, we'll find her before it's too late. Just have faith..." Vega told him, visibly straining herself from crying. The two boys had received a phone call from Mrs. Wakeman a second time shortly after the first, announcing that Vega from Cluster Prime had received scrambeled messages from XJ-9 immediently after her crash into the ground. She and a number of her ships pulled from War duty had also begun feverishly scanning the island for Jenny. Brad and Sheldon quickly received a constant audio up-link to Vega herself, where she was updating them on what her men were finding. "...point Tamarac is a bust, guys. only 5 more locations.." Vega trailed off. She suddenly shook her head, noticing herself succumbing to the helplessness. _Not now Vega, you're so close to finding her. She needs your help now, you can cry later!_ Vega had thought to herself. Looking towards her captain, she barked an order at him "Get to the next location! Full speed! We don't rest until she is found!" Vega sank back into her chair and spun it back towards he desk, praying to the Diety Cheftians of her planet that they would see her friend and hero back into safety. She had completely engrossed herself in prayer when a shout from the boys caused her to jump. "What! What did you find!"

"We found the site! We found the crash site! JENNY, HOLD ON!" Brad had screamed into the mic. Vega twirled back to the captain of the ship in a frenzy, having lost her cool.

"GET ME TO THAT LOCATION, DRAB! NOW!" Vega shouted like a Banshee, gripping her arm rests tightly and shredding them with her claws. It only took a few seconds for Drab to pilot the ship to the location at full speed. Vega was down on the ground, next to Brad, who was lifting large debris that was sitting in the river, checking to see if Jenny was underneath.

"No luck so far, but we have to keep going, she doesn't have much longer." Brad said as he moved about in a frantic pace.

"Have you tried that debris over the-" Vega had started, but was rudely cut off by a large ZAP from a laser rifle that was fired into the air, with a visible blue beam. Vega and Brad spun around in time to see the Silver Shell run towards the source like a rampaging bull, bowling over debris and trees like they were made of styrofoam. As Vega and Brad dashed over to the source as well, they heard the Silver Shell let out a bone chilling scream of anger. Upon reaching the site, the two found Sheldon out of his suit, and frantically attempting to connect power lines from the Silver Shell to Jenny's exposed electrodes in her neck. There was oil, coolant, and other unknown fluids spilled all over the ground, with as much sitting, drying, on Jenny. Her face was still stained from her tears of pain while she plummeted from the sky. Worst of all, she wasn't responding to anything Sheldon was saying. While Brad rushed over to Jenny's side to help Sheldon, Vega pulled out a communicator and started speaking into it. Once she was finished talking she just stood on the spot, and started to weep openly. Her knees weakening, she was about to drop when Brad shouted suddenly, sobering her up.

"Hey..HEY, VEGA! COME OVER, QUICK! Shes coming too!" Brad shouted ecstatically. Drying her tears as she ran towards the scene, Vega had arrived just as Jenny's eyes fluttered open. Jenny had a quick glance around before returning her gaze straight upward, and her eyes shot wide open. Arching her back and screwing her eyes shut, Jenny let out a series of pained screams, and was spouting gibberish inbetween her screams. Suddenly, something legible came out of her grunts and screams.

"GET HIM OFF ME! GET HIM OFF! GET-GET OFF!" Jenny shouted, while flailing her arms and legs around. The trio grabs Jenny's various limbs, and Vega began attempting to calm her down.

"Jenny, hes gone! You're alright now! Its okay, just calm down, you're worsening your injuries!" Vega pleaded with her friend. Jenny stopped fighting the three of them, and suddenly became quiet, opening her eyes, darting them around. Spider webs crossed randomly over both her eyes, signifying they were shattered.

"Ve...Vega? Why can't I see you? I...I can't see anything. Why can't I see? I...what happened to me..." Jenny paused for a moment, and in the silence one could almost hear her accessing her Memory Banks. "The plane...oh god.." Jenny said faintly. "They all died, didn't they...?" She asked quietly. The three friends by her side were all silent, but it told her all she needed to know. She closed her eyes, and began crying fresh tears. "I...failed. And its because I'm out of date...". Just as Vega began to console her friend, a frantic Mrs. Wakeman rushed towards her daughter, followed slowly by another teenage boy, who was surveying the scene.

"XJ-9, are you okay? Speak to me, dear! Please!" Mrs. Wakeman wailed as she neared her daughter.

"Mom...? Where are you? I can't see..I think my eyes are broken. I..." Jenny began groping the air for her mother's hand, and her mother placed her hand into the grasp gingerly, perhaps as if to avoid damaging her daughter further.

"I'm right here, dear. Don't worry, we'll have you up and running again in a jiffy!" Mrs. Wakeman said in an attempt to sound cheerful. The boy approached the group and finally spoke up.

"I doubt it'll be a jiffy, but...I can certainly get her back to atleast a semi-functional state. Now, if you'll please move away from her so I can begin an assesment..? I just need to flick this interal switch here, so she becomes a little more lucid, and then..." The boy spoke in a pleasant voice, that was faintly familiar to Jenny.

_If only I could see his face, I just KNOW I could place him! _Jenny strained to think, aided by the sudden boost in processing time. Suddenly noticing she was being prodded by someone, Jenny jumped a little. "What...? I'm so tired..."

"I was asking you if you were fighting to remain out of diagnostics mode, but that just answered my question pretty clearly..." The boy stated. He began jotting down some of his findings onto a notepad, and began 'Mhmm'ing and 'oh, perhaps...'ing to himself. Finally seeming to come to a final conclusion about something, Sheldon spoke out, finally breaking his own silent vigil.

"What did you find? Can you help her in any way?" Sheldon begged to the mysterious boy. Sighing, the boy began his diagnosis.

"Well, to keep this short...I can't fix her up one hundred percent. Not HERE, anyways. I need a proper maintenance bay for that, and my M.R.R.S. is too under-tooled for me to fix every issue she has. Meaning we'll have to cart her around until such a time as we come across one, which shouldn't be too bad, considering its only a short flight away. Except for one problem." The boy said in an intelligent tone. Sheldon and Mrs. Wakeman knew what the boy was getting at.

"The problem being, if we move her right now, she may be damaged beyond repair..." Mrs. Wakeman started.

"...which brings up looping around back again, as the only way we can fix her is by moving her." Sheldon had finished. Clearly fustrated by this revelation, Brad had an outburst of fury.

"So you're saying Jenny is screwed? To hell with that, there is always a way!" Brad shouted at the three before him.

"Exactly the right kind of attitude we need right now. Seeing as someone spoke up for me...I do believe we can cheat this worst case scenario by fixing what we can. It doesn't take into account the sixth party here. With some help of the cluster, I think we can do something about this supposedly hopeless situation." The boy finished. Jenny assumed he must have glanced at Vega, as she replied.

"Ask me for anything within my power, and you shall have it." Vega said in a determined tone.

"Right then, now we move on to another issue. I'm going to need an assistant, but seeing as Mrs. Wakeman is forbidden by law right now to work on Jenny-" The boy began, but Jenny cut him off.

"Shes what? For-For-For-For-For-For-For-" Jenny had begun to say, but her vocal systems crashed looping a sound. The boy waited until the issue was rectified by Jenny's own systems, and replied.

"Yes, as the situation revolves around you and your health, and the fact that the authority of the situation has been handed to the Skyway Patrol, your mother is barred from doing anything to affect the situation, adversely or positively. I'm only allowed to work on you simply because they contracted me to assist as soon as they found out you were located. Heh, had the fools not discharged me because I leaked info to you guys to protect you, they wouldn't be bleeding out cash right now to pay for my presence. I'd be here for free though, had I known the stakes...not like I need the money." the boy caught himself going off-topic, and coughed. "Sorry, I'll stay on-topic. Now, Sheldon, you're good with robotics, yes?"

"I uhh...yeah, I guess. I made Brad's exo suit and the Silver Sh- URK! This, uhh...big thing behind me. Heh heh..." Sheldon mumbeled hurridley. After a short silence, where Jenny could only guess Sheldon was getting a look from everyone, The boy spoke again.

"Anyways, I'll need your help. This is one operation I know I can't finish alone, and with Mrs. Wakeman out of the equation..." The boy trailed off. There was a moment of silence, where Sheldon was thinking, then there was his reply.

"I...I don't know, I mean...what if I make her worse?" Sheldon had begun on a tirade of self doubt, but Vega interrupted him, and must have gripped his arm.

"Don't go down the trail of what ifs, we're not there yet, are we? Before you begin doubting yourself think of this: A girl needs your help to survive a horrible event. You have to tools and abilities to help her. Will you let her stumble in the dark an expire, or will you lend her your hand, as a beacon of hope? I know you have feelings for Jenny, I can see them easily. But if you doubt yourself, you'll lose the chance to express them stronger than you ever will be able to in the future, if you get even another chance to!" Vega pleaded. Now invigorated by her pep-talk. Just as Sheldon was about to have a Heroic moment, Jenny cut in.

"I may be blind, but my audio..URGH...receptors are still working fine, _thank you_." Jenny said with a raspy finish. Slightly deflated, Sheldon looked at the Boy, and made a decision.

"Yeah, I'll help. But not because of my feelings, but because shes my friend. I already let Jenny know how I feel enough as it it." Sheldon said in a tone of finality.

"Great, now, we'll need to work fast. Once we go in, the rest of her fluids will leak from her like a sieve. Once shes empty, her internal parts will start seizing up, _and thats something we can't fix_. Lets begin by preparing her for operation...are you ready to enter sleep mode, Jenny? I'm going to press and hold your internal off switch, okay?"

"Sure...but I never got your name...what is- UAAHHh..that hurt. Uhh, what is your name?" Jenny asked, evidently fighting a new onset of pain. The boy chuckeled at her question, and began answering.

"You don't remember me yet? My name is-"


	11. 11 OperaShun

About 5 minutes had gone by since the boy and Sheldon had begun their fast paced repair on Jenny. Feeling helpless, Mrs. Wakeman had let her emotions get the better of her and began to sob uncontrollably. Out of worry, Vega escorted Jenny's mother to a quieter area in the trees, away from any signs of the crash, just in-case she began to distract the boys while they operated. In the distance, Brad could hear Vega trying to console Mrs. Wakeman, but could hear her voice crack from time to time. Feeling he should do something helpful to the situation, Brad decided to phone to school and let them know that Jenny, Sheldon, and Himself wouldn't be there.

"I know of the...situation, Mr. Carbunkle. How is Ms. Wakeman doing right now...? The local news channel hasn't gotten a feed of the site yet, but I hear they are heading there." Vice Principle Razinski asked softly. Brad was surprised by this rarely heard voice, but answered quickly.

"Shes...in really bad shape. Skyway Patrol won't let Mrs. Wakeman work on Jenny, but they did contract an Ace Robotics Mechanic to help out. I remember him from a year ago, when I had first met him by chance, and he is really skilled." Brad paused for a moment, and looked back at the scene. He thought about something for a moment, and then spoke again. "Sir, I'd like to make a request."

"What is it, Mr. Carbunkle?" Razinski asked politely.

"Well, I know Jenny might not want me to ask this, and it may make a few students upset, but...do you think you could have all the students in the school watch the newscast when they arrive?" Brad paused for a moment, his entire body shaking with both anger, and fear for Jenny's life. "I...I want them to see the sort of danger she places herself in...every day. I want them to see the gravity of what situations she attempts to resolve, and why they hurt her so badly and confuse her when they shun her!" Brad screamed into the phone, choking on his own tears. Sobbing now, quietly, Brad waited for an answer. After what seemed like an eternity, Razinski answered.

"I'll get on having the TVs set up to display the news channel, Mr. Carbunkle. The entire school already knows of the situation, as well. I made an announcment about an hour ago." Razinski replied in a confident tone. A few moments passed, after which, the Vice Principle spoke again. "I knew that she was being treated poorly in the beginning atleast, but from how strongly you're reacting to your own request...I seriously misjudged how savage her peers were with her." Razinski said quietly, with an almost inaudible amount of sadness. After a few consoling words to Brad, he hung up the phone. After Brad managed to collect himself some, he returned to where the boys were working on Jenny. Having been away for what must have been a half hour when he finished his call, Brad noticed that the News crew had already finished setting up and had just started broadcasting.

"...and as you can see, Tom, these two robotic prodigies are operating furiously on Ms. XJ-9 to save her life. This is an extremely sad moment in the history of the world, as we are also in the middle of..." was all Brad had heard from the man in-front of the camera, before he returned to a single word the man had said.

_'Operation...this isn't a repair, or emergency maintenance. Operation is definitely the word to describe this.' _Brad though with sorrow. After noticing himself crying uncontrollably, Brad jumped when the news caster had approached him and asked a question. "Sorry...what did you ask?"

"Whats your relation to Ms. XJ-9?" the news agent had repeated, with a sad look on his face hinting that he might have figured why Brad was there to begin with.

"Shes...my friend. My best friend." Brad had managed to get out between sobs. Sadness turned to anger in an amazingly swift shift, however, as he scrunched up his face and yelled at the camera. "What MONSTER could do this to her! I swear, if you are watching this, if I ever find you, I'll twist your nut sack off and force you to eat it!" he screamed. Brad's outburst had clearly surprised the news caster, but he didn't say anything. The news agent slowly turned back the camera and began commentating again once he had been asked another question by the news anchor back at the station.

* * *

Having been asked by the Vice Principle to pause their teaching and turn their class televisions to the news channel, the teachers complied. In the history class the three friends where to have attended, Brit and Tiff Crust had been giggling in the back, making jokes at Jenny's failure.

"Oh cuz, you sure know how ta make me laugh, ha!" Tiff had whispered to her cousin. Not batting an eye at the compliment, Brit replied.

"Well OF COURSE, Cousin. If you want to be popular, unlike that blue tin-can, sorry, SCRAP HEAP," Brit laughed as she corrected herself, "you HAVE to make funny jokes." Brit finished with a smirk. Finally relaxing their frenzy of stifled giggling, Tiff spoke again,

"You hafta wonder how bad it is, though...its even got tha VP upset. And he don' get upset." Tiff said loudly. Noticing that the Teacher and the rest of the class had looked at them with curiosity, Tiff and Brit covered their mouths with their hands in embarrassment for being caught talking in class.

"Normally you'd get a detention, Ms. Crust and Ms. Crust, for interrupting me, but, this very newscast should answer that very question." the teacher had said in a monotone, while switching the TV to the news station.

"...and our animators have created a 3D animation of what may have occurred prior to Ms. XJ-9's plummet towards the ground with the aircraft. Colette?" The news anchor had finished, and the camera switched to a woman standing in-front of the animation.

"Based on what information we've gathered thus far, it seems that Jennifer Wakeman had been dispatched to rescue a stricken aircraft. It turns out this aircraft had an engine failure that caused an explosion and set the engine itself on fire. Over time, the fire weakened the entire wing, and as you can see," The woman pointed the the 3D jet's wing, " the entire wing broke off. It was shortly after this, mere seconds, that Ms. Wakeman appeared, and righted the aircraft. It seems she flew for some time, before approaching the mountains. According to a Skyway Patrol insider, it was at this time she was ambushed from behind by an unknown enemy. What we then learned, shocked us to the core. It turns out that the enemy managed to literally TEAR OPEN Ms. Wakeman, and remove her fuel pump that supplied fuel to her jet thrusters in her feet." The woman again paused and pointed to the animation displaying this. Seeing this in the animation, a couple students gasped, and a couple girls covered their mouths in horror. Looking at each other evilly, the Crust cousin's began formulating more jokes. During this short transaction, the woman had continued.

"While her fuel pump was removed, Ms. Wakeman hadn't immediately fallen from the sky. There had been some small exchange between her attacker and herself, upon which he left the scene entirely. Shortly afterwards, with her boosters failing her, and her smaller boosters in her pigtails not capable of holding up even herself, Ms. Wakeman, the aircraft, and all the people onboard of it began their plummet. The fall reportedly took about 2 minutes to conclude, based on the data Skyway Patrol radars had gathered." The woman concluded, with the animation just finishing up by showing a hastily drawn Jenny and aircraft stopping when they hit the ground. Brit and Tiff suddenly burst out laughing, at some private joke that occurred between them.

"HA HA! Yeah, maybe she DID just forget to have enough fuel! Skyway Patrol could just be hiding a big screw up!" Tiff yelled out, as she wiped tears from her eyes that collected there due to laughter.

"Yo! Shuddup! We're gonna see what happened to Jenny!" a jock in the class had yelled across the room. Too busy at calming themselves again to attempt put the jock in his place, the Crust cousins ignored him. Unhindered, the broadcast continued.

"...I've just heard that we have been given clearance from Skyway Patrol to approach the operation and get a good view, but we're still working with Ms. Wakeman's family and friends. Now, I must warn you all, that what you are about to see is extremely disturbing. If you are sensitive to death and anything that goes along with it, please change the channel now." The Anchor paused for a moment, as if waiting for something, before continuing. "Alright, so, before we approach the scene Phil, who is already there at the scene?"

What the students saw made them collectively gasp in horror. The TV showed the utter devastation the surrounding around done by the aircraft, with some small fires still burning and even a few bodies from the passengers lay in random places.

"Well Tom, it seems a wide cast of people who have been directly involved in Ms. XJ-9's thus far short life have shown up to lend aid to their fallen comrade. Bradley Carbunkle, as we have just seen, and Sheldon Lee are current classmates of hers, with Sheldon Lee assisting in the effort. It turns out that the Cluster's new and peaceful queen, Vega, is on the ground just past those trees with Mrs. Wakeman, who, as you mentioned before, is currently legally bound by Skyway Patrol from attempting to assist in saving her daughter, even though she created her. We also have the Silver Shell present, an on-and-off ally with Ms. XJ-9, and is lending assistance by sending some of his stored energy to her. As long as we've seen, he is holding a personal silent vigil, unmoving, in his worry for his ally. Also among us now, since the animation was run though, are members of the Air Transportation Safety Board, a few patrols of Skyway Patrol aircraft, and even a few platoons of American Marines that are setting up a perimeter." The news agent had explained to his viewers. Suddenly, the screen showed both the man at the scene and the news anchor, who began asking another question.

"Phil, whats the level of devestation at the crash site?" Tom had asked.

"Tom, its...unbelievable. No word can describe the horror that must have occurred here. The actual damage path must be around a mile long, meaning both Ms. Wakeman and the aircraft's passengers and pieces literally had to have bounced quite a few times to match the distance. The amount of terror both the passenger's felt when they realized their fate, and what Ms. Wakeman must have felt when she herself was suddenly thrust into immense danger...thats something I doubt anyone can even begin to contemplate." Phil had finished. Just as Tom was about to ask something else, he noticed Phil became distracted with something off camera.

"Uhh, Tom, we've just been updated that Ms. Wakeman's mother has finally allowed us to see whats become of our heroine." Phil told the newsroom as he began walking over to where Jenny was being worked on. "She has been blocked by an M.R.R.S. that had been set onto the ground, as well as by the contracted Mechanic, so we haven't been able to get a good look until now," the news agent explained, "so its my first look as well. I apologize in advance if its extremely disturbing. Oh my-" The news agent gasped as Jenny came within full view of the camera. Not a single inch of Jenny had been untouched. She was completely dented everywhere, with some punctures being quite visible to the naked eye. The blond teenaged mechanic and Sheldon didn't even spare a glimpse to the news team as they stood there. They were too busy working on Jenny's various internal systems, ensuring they wouldn't fail, and at such a furious pace it was hard to see where they were working. The oil oozing out of her punctured lines didn't help matters either. The Camera focused in on her face, where dried oil trailed from her eyes like tears. Most of the girls, and even some of the boys in the class began to cry. The rest were frozen in shock, including Tiff and Brit. One girl turned to glare at the cousins and spoke.

"So you got your wish, you bitches. She IS a scrap heap now!" She spat with venom.

* * *

"Sheldon, feed more oil into her system, she'll be running low...wait, the seal on her oil sump output is breaking! Hand me a wrench, quick! ...okay, the seal should hold for now. Argh, why the hell do her lines keep getting punctured? We just put these IN! Sheldon, do you see anything I can't? Like, a small piece of twisted metal that I might keep pressing the lines against?"

"No I don't see...wait, WHAT is THAT? That thing on Jenny's oil sump! I've seen Jenny's plans, and THAT looks foreign!" Sheldon suddenly shouted, pointing at an odd shape covered in oil. The mechanic grabbed a liquid suction tool and used it around the odd sight. He suddenly jerked the suction tool away, and dropped it on the ground, and slowly began to raise his hands in disbelief.

"Oh SHIT...We've gotta remove that. THAT is a very large nanobot, Sheldon. It keeps piercing the lines with those pincers it has folded away, you see them? If we don't, it'll just keep putting us back to where we were. Take the pliers, I'll apply force to the liner. If we don't do it right, it'll tear the liner, and we'll be screwed...if it tears, Jenny is doomed." The mechanic said in a panic. Noticing the fear on his face, Sheldon and Brad looked at each other.

"Do it...she'd want you to take the risk, man. You remember what she said just after she hit the ground? 'Help me'. You have to remove it, Shel." Brad said determinedly. Sheldon stared at his friend a little while longer, and then nodded. He grabbed the pliers, and waited on the mechanic's signal.

"Okay...place the nose of the pliers onto the nanobot..." the boy started. Just as he was about to explain the next step, a large beep came from the nanobot once Sheldon touched it, and the pincers folded down, puncturing the liner. Not skipping a beat, the Mechanic jumped in and plugged the holes with his fingers. "Oh, fuck! That's new! Remove the pliers, Sheldon! Go get Vega, quickly! We need transport, immediately!"


	12. 12 The Final Hurdle

Sheldon got up and ran like the wind. He couldn't even feel the burning in his lungs, or the roiling in his gut from how hard he was pressing himself to reach Vega._ 'No! I can't afford to slow down! Jenny needs my help, or she'll...' _Sheldon began, but tossed the thought aside. Those thoughts were poisonous, and in the current situation they were in, if he wanted Jenny to live, he'd better hustle and stop pouting. Finally reaching Vega, he started gasping for air and gripped his knees.

"We...need...evac...giant...nanobot...Jenny's oil sump...peirced...pincers..."Sheldon tried to say, but proceeded to collapse on all fours. Luckily, Vega atleast understood the urgency, and popped open her comm-link.

"Beam us up! Now!" Vega had shouted. What was seconds felt like minutes to Sheldon, but eventually he found himself on the floor of Vega's flagship, next to Mrs. Wakeman. Looking around, Sheldon couldn't see anyone else except cluster drones dashing around. Beginning to panic, Sheldon attempted to get up and alert Vega to the goof, but found it unnecessary, as Brad, Sheldon's Silver Shell, Jenny (who was now on the levitating Mobile repair station), and the guy contracted by Skyway Patrol appeared right before his eyes in a dazzling red light. He was also surprised to see the news crew show up. They seemed more surprised than him, he noted, but they quickly collected themselves and began broadcasting again. Sheldon jumped when he suddenly realised the mechanic was yelling at him.

"Sheldon, GET OVER HERE! She's reaching dangerously low levels of oil! I need your help!" the boy pleaded. In a sudden surge of adrenaline, Sheldon dashed over, and began feeding oil into her system again. Noticing some of the drones on-board simply waiting around, Vega reacted angrily.

"Prep the medical bay for immediate action! I repeat, prep the medical bay for immediate action! This is a priority one situation! XJ-9 is close to shutting down! She requires medical intervention!" Vega shouted at her soldiers. There was suddenly an increase in the activity, and the ship's intercom system suddenly started sounding off.

"Actually, what Jenny really needs right now is a fully equipped robotic labratory. We really need to head to Mrs. Wakeman's house." The Mechanic explained to Vega. Smirking slightly, Vega replied.

"And our medical bay designed for robots isn't fully equipped? Trust me, we'll have everything you need, unless its really abstract."

* * *

"Medical alert! Medical alert! Inbound patient with foreign doctors! Patient is reported as in a critical state! Prepare the Medical Bay for Operation!" was all the boy could hear from the intercom before he tuned it out, once they arrived in the medical bay, to pay attention to Jenny's precarious position.

_'My god, this is really bad. How am I going to remove this god damn thing? What possible escape do I have here?'_The boy thought to himself. While he was continuing to force his fingers into the puncture on Jenny's Oil Sump, began to study the Nanobot fiercely. Recalling a saying in Skyway Patrol boot camp, he thought about how to attack his problem. _'There is always a hole in the enemy offensive, I just have to find it, and exploit it to victory...but how can I remove this damn thing when we're supposed to prevent holes from appearing?'_. the boy had wracked his brain looking for an answer. Unable to think of something, he uttered a cry of frustration, which wasn't lost on the news team that followed the action.

"Sir, whats the situation with XJ-9, how is it looking?" the news caster named Phil asked. The teenager pressed his mind further. The more he searched, the more angry he got. A realization finally came to him, that shocked him to his core. Turning pale, he shouted aloud to no one in particular.

"I...don't know what to do...I have no...I have no idea what to do! I can't figure out how to remove this nanobot! Every idea I come up with isn't going to work!" the boy said wide-eyed, while his eyes darted around the oil-flooded compartments of Jenny. _'Anything...ANYTHING to help this poor girl out!' _the mechanic thought as he threw his head back to the ceiling and shouted. "Goddess of time, please! We need more time!"

* * *

Many students in Tremorton high were now openly crying for their classmate's fate. They had all been tightly packed into the gymnasium to watch the news on the large projector there allowed in the idea that everyone could try and help each other's moods. Not one single student spoke, too transfixed on the horrible events unfolding before their eyes on the television screen. When the boy working on Jenny began to shout to the heavens for assistance, the majority of the school broke out in a silent denial. After a few minutes principle Razinski walked up onto the stage.

"I'm aware I probably don't have to say this, but...it is very likely that Jennifer Wakeman is going to pass away, at the rate things are going. I've been told recently about how terrible she has actually been treated by a large number of you all." Razinski had started, with a look of sadness and a tone to match it. "Bradley Carbunkle specifically asked me to show you this news cast, just to demonstrate the sort of things Jennifer has to go through, the sort of things that she tries to protect us from. I had prepared a full speech about how unequally she has been treated, but...I can see that it is unnecessary now. While I'm not going to be asking you all to beg for forgiveness from her, I do hope that you'll all join me in a little prayer for her safe return to Tremorton, or if she passes away, a prayer for her to rest in peace." the Vice Principle had finished. When he closed his eyes, the students of Tremorton high followed his example. The level of intensity in their prayers could be felt like electricity flowing through the air, and the amount of hope almost felt like it had begun battle with the terrible sound still emanating from the news cast. Just as the tech team was about to shut off the stream out of respect, the school heard Sheldon mumble something, to which the mechanic replied.

"Wait, what did you say?" the boy asked with such ferocity, it caused Sheldon to cringe a bit.

"I said...she feels so cold. Her hands are freezing, I feel no heat in them..." Sheldon said while he gripped one of Jenny's hands, and began trembling. Few seconds went by before the first good sound in a while blasted out.

"That's it! We can freeze the damn thing off!" The boy shouted with renewed gusto. He turned to the assisting robots next to the table Jenny was on. "You! Do you have Liquid Nitrogen on board!"

"No, we don't...we have no need for it normally." The robot answered sadly. Undaunted, the mechanic turned his gaze to Mrs. Wakeman.

"Do you not have any? I can't see why you wouldn't." he asked, hoping for a good answer.

"Not at my house, no. I did leave some in the science lab at XJ-9's school, when I did a scientific demonstration for them." Mrs. Wakeman said in a curious tone. Suddenly looking seriously at the Mechanic, Mrs. Wakeman spoke again. "I suppose I don't have to tell you why that is such a risky maneuver, do I, Leo?"

"No, Mrs. Wakeman, you don't. Her body getting irreparably damaged is a risk we'll need to take, if she is to survive. I'll personally design her new parts if it comes to that." Leo said, returning Mrs. Wakeman's gaze. "Well, I'd better write Jenny a 'doctors note', because we're heading to her school." Leo finished, and began preparing for the maneuver to save Jenny. At this, the students at Tremorton high began to shout at the staff.

"Mr. Piggott! Go get that liquidy freezing stuff! Or we'll blame you for Jenny dying!" One of the cheerleaders yelled.

"Yeah! Go get that stuff! We'll lead them to the science lab, Mr. Piggott!" Another student shouted. Suddenly, all of students began to stream out of the gymnasium, leaving most of the teachers unsure of what to do. Razinski turned to Mr. Piggott, with his arms crossed.

"I suggest you go prepare that Liquid Nitrogen, John. This looks like it'll get hectic very quickly."

* * *

It didn't take long for the giant starship to come to a halt above Jenny's school. Leo and Sheldon wasted no time in dashing the trolly which held Jenny through the front doors after being beamed down, where they found the students forming a winding line through the school. As they ran in, they were greeted with many of the students yelling at them.

"Just follow the line, it'll guide you to the Science labs!" one male student shouted.

"If you save Jenny, I'll call you both cool!" Don Prima had shouted. Sheldon had thoughs of popularity dance in his mind temporarily, and while he had his mind in the clouds a student had stepped out partially to catch a better glimpse of the action. Sheldon's feet caught the other student's, making him fall and bump the table, spilling some of Jenny's precious oil onto the floor. Leo suddenly slipped on the spill while turning the final corner to the science lab, causing him to let go of the cart in suprise and smash his head onto the ground. Leo quickly jumped up, paying no attention to the gash on his head caused by the fall, which had begun to bleed moderately. He yanked Sheldon up off the floor, and the two rushed Jenny into the science lab, where they were met Mr. Piggott who had the liquid nitrogen ready to go. When Mr. Piggott looked up at the new arrivals, he gasped when he saw Leo's head wound.

"Oh, your head is bleeding badly! Did you want me to patch it up?" Mr. Piggott asked in a concerned tone.

"My head should be the least of anyone's worries right now! Get that stuff over here! I need you to dispense it!" Leo had barked at the teacher. All too ready to comply, Mr. Piggott hauled the cylinder holding the Liquid Nitrogen, and a tool to dispense it, to the cart that Jenny resided on. Suddenly overcome by the sight of his best student on an operating table, the teacher started to hesitate.

"I...I-I'm sorry, I just-" The distraught teacher began, but was interrupted by Leo's snarling.

"Oh for the love of-! ...Give me that! I'll do it myself!" Leo snapped at Mr. Piggott, as Leo ripped the dispensing device from his hands. Aiming it at the Nanobot, which was now nearly completely submerged in oil, he flipped the dispensing tool's switch to open. As the liquid connected with the nanobot, sudden crackling noises eminatted from the threat, which had become various shades of blue. Not willing to allow the nanobot to strike again, Leo snapped a pair of needle nose pliers onto it while it was slowed from the sheer cold, and yanked upwards, pulling the whole device out before it could snap its pincers down. Letting it drop on the floor, he stomped on it with his heel, smashing it into hundreds of little peices. Leo then looked up at Sheldon and Mr. Piggott, and noticed both of them staring at him in awe. Leo looked at the two of them and sighed. "Yeah, I know. I'm fast. I've been told that before. We're not out of the clear yet though, we have to stabalize our paitient!"

* * *

Four hours had gone by since the boys rushed Jenny through the doors into the science lab. Students were being barred from entering the lab by Cluster Soldiers, as well as Police Officers who had arrived due to reports of a Cluster ship. Most of the students had returned to their classes, however, but only due to the promise of updates of Jenny's status through the intercom. The ones that were left had grabbed chairs from the gymnasium and sat to wait for news. Mr. Piggott had periodically come out to give updates, but most of the time it was always the same lines: "Shes still unstable, they're fighting to keep her systems online." or "They found some previously undetected damage, they're fixing it now." or the more common "They found some leaked oil in some spots they thought her lines hadn't been damaged. They're cleaning it out now to check for an actual leak.". Many of the students had fallen asleep, as they had nothing better to do, except worry and wait. They only stirred when Sheldon and Mr. Piggott exited the science lab, but their hopes for a proper update were dashed when Sheldon spoke up.

"Nothing new, hes just sent us out to rest. He is afraid we'll make a mistake if we're tired." Sheldon said with a sigh. He thanked one of the Jocks when they pulled out two chairs for the teacher and himself. After a few minutes, Sheldon dozed off into a restless sleep. While he slept, he had a series of horrible nightmares, some where Leo exited the Science lab with tears, explaining how he still failed to save Jenny despite their efforts, or one where the student body of Tremorton stormed the science lab and began tearing an alert Jenny to peices while laughing manaically, despite her pleas. The one that brought tears to his eyes while he slept was where Jenny, laying in a buried coffin with her cracked and darkened eyes wide open, began blaming Sheldon for failing to save her life, the one time she needed to be saved. Suddenly aware that he was being shaken, he shouted and jumped, and shouted in fright again once he found out who was trying to wake him up.

"Dude, you need 'ta calm down. You was jus' havin' a nightmare." Tiffany Crust explained to Sheldon. Noticing his shock of being talked to and touched by her, she sighed. "Look, I know it's amazin' that I'm talkin' to ya's, and that it supposedly makes me lose mah cool level, but right now no one gives a dayum." Tiff said angrily, and paused for a moment to calm down before continuing. "You'se just looked like you wanted to be woken up, so..."

"I..uhm...thanks, I guess. They were...really horrible dreams. One of the drawbacks to being humans, I suppose." Sheldon said nervously. Tiff proceeded to move her chair beside Sheldon, a move which again suprised him.

"Look, I said no one gives a dayum abou' who's coo' or not right now. So chill out, foo'!" Tiff said in an angry tone once again. Looking back at Sheldon, who was looking for an explanation for the move, she sighed. "Everyone is upset right now...yea, even me, one of 'da Crust Cousins who make it their mission 'ta make Jenny miserable. But we're all sad. Me an' Brit feel awful that we made jokes about Jenny's situation before we's knew how actually bad it was. I'm not sayin' we'll be '_friends till the end_' with her now, but...we still feel bad." Tiff said while glancing between the floor and Sheldon. When she looked up, he had a suspicious look on his face. Letting out a fustrated growl, Tiff threw her hands up in the air and began to shout at Sheldon. "Look, I don' know what else ya wan' me ta' say! I may not like Jenny, bu' I sure as hell don' wan' her dead!"

"I'm sorry, I guess I'm still having difficulty believeing you. You and Brit do have a nasty track record with us losers, you know." Sheldon said spitefully. Suddenly regretting what he said, Sheldon quickly spoke up again. "..I'm sorry, I'm just really...stressed right now. With these latest events, and my nightmares..." Sheldon trailed off sadly. Tiff picked up on where he left off.

"Well, why don' you tell me what ya dreamt abou'?"

* * *

After roughly another two hours, all sorts of news crews from around the world had shown up at Tremorton High, in anticipation for news that would change the world.

"_Will Robo Girl XJ-9 Live? Or will she succumb to the critical wounds her enemy has given her? It is the opinion of this news station that if XJ-9 passes on, it will have been a death of the highest honour."_a news caster had spoken loudly to a camera in Japanese. The outside of the school had become extremely loud, due to News agents attempting to be heard on their own cameras over the rival news stations. Mrs. Wakeman had gone home and activated XJs 1 through 8, so that they would be up to speed on the situation. She had allowed them to watch the news station, so that they know immediately what the outcome is, so they could make the appropriate accomodations to the house if needed. The girls had been extremely quiet since their mother left, and XJ-8 had escourted her so she could enter the school without being harrassed intensively. Finally, XJ-4 spoke up after seeing Mrs. Wakeman and XJ-8 on the television.

"..Theres XJ-8. She should be home soon, then...we should tidy up the living room so she won't think we're pigs."

"But theres nothing to clean up in the living room...we should probably just start making the accommodations for Jenny's state now, while we wait...its something to do instead of sit around..." XJ-7 said in a mopey tone.

"I sure hope ya meant for her being alive, XJ-7. Because if you didn't, thats some dark thoughts to speak out, even for you." XJ-5 stated sadly. The living room starting to quiet down again, XJ-6 spoke up this time, trying to lighten the mood.

"You know, even though I'm so jelous of what Jenny gets to do, or what happens to her, all the time, THIS is something I'm quite happy to say I'm not jelous of. Except maybe the attention. The attention might be nice."

XJ-1 started beeping and whistling in response. _"I think we should get Jenny some toys to play with when she comes home! Maybe she won't hurt as much then!" _XJ-1 suggested. Just then, XJ-8 came in the front door. She fought off her sisters questions about Jenny's wellbeing for a bit, until she finally caved.

"It turns out that she has lost her optical capabilities entirely. She is also still leaking in a number of critical areas, and some of her joints are damaged too badly to be used anymore. I worry for our sister." XJ-8 concluded sadly. The rest of the XJ girls turned quiet again, and focused their attention to the television once again.

* * *

Technically, the school was now closed, but many of the students opted to stay and await news of Jenny's outcome. Tiff and Sheldon had many small conversations, most of them about what happened to Jenny, and how he found her. But they had ended a while ago, due to nothing else to talk about. Just as Tiff was about to strike up another conversation, Leo burst through the Science Lab doors. Looking up and around him at the stunned faces, he finally spoke.

"Jenny...is now...stable." Leo had managed to speak before he collapsed and passed out, and was subsequently caught by a police officer. There was a moment of silence before raucous cheering thundered down the halls of the school building. Brad simply placed his head in his hands and cried. Sheldon ran outside screaming and cheering like a banshee.

"JENNY IS ALIVE! SHE IS STABLE!" he shouted out to those behind the cameras. There was a sudden explosion of cheering and laughter among the news casters. After News agent Phil shook hands with a Canadian reporter, he waited for activity from the front doors. When they suddenly swung open, he could see Jenny being pushed along on the table she had come in on, with Leo directly behind her laying unconcious in a stretcher. Phil quickly turned to his camera and began report with a huge grin on his face.

"Well Tom, it appears Ms. Jennifer Wakeman has survived her ordeal! We've just gotten report that her operation has completed successfully, but her 'Doctor' hasn't exactly escaped unharmed himself. If you can see behind me, the boy behind the miracle is being evacuated on a stretcher. It turns out that he suffered a nasty fall when he was rushing Ms. Wakeman to the science lab, and injured his head. We're not sure how bad it is, but the school nurse seems to only mildly concerned."

"That's good to hear, Phil. Celebrations are currently being reported world wide, with the news that it's heroine has survived having spread quicker than any information has in history. We had a chance to ask the President what sort of celebrations could be promised prior to this wonderful outcome, and she promised a week long celebration in major cities, as well as Tremorton, with it being the main focus. Smaller towns across the country would be receiving some money for organizing celebrations as well. In related news..."

* * *

_'Ughh, my head is killing me...' _Leo thought to himself as he groaned from the headache. Rubbing his fingers over his eyes in an attempt to get the sleep out, he suddenly realised he had a bandage on his head. _'Thats right, I smacked my head on the ground...but was it really that bad?'_ Leo wondered to himself as he clutched the bandages on his head. Sitting up from the bed he was in, he took a look around, and realised he was in a place that was foreign to him. _'...how the hell did I get here? Wherever here is...last thing I remember is...didn't I tell people that Jenny was good to go?' _Leo strained to remember. Taking another look around, Leo made the decision to explore wherever 'here' was. Throwing the blankets off of him, Leo got up and began to walk towards the door, but only got as far as the first step when he fell to one knee and had to brace himself with one hand. "Oooh...maybe I pushed myself too hard with that last bit of the operation.." Leo thought aloud to himself. The door suddenly swung open infront of him, causing him to jump. Before him stood an odd pink-colored, octopus-like robot.

"Oooh, hey mom! That boy is awake! But...hes on the floor?" The robot had shouted into the hallway before looking at Leo. "Why are you on the floor?" she asked innocently.

"I was trying to...see where I was, exactly. But then I fell here, and, well...I think I'm going to be sick." Leo finished, suddenly looking nauseous. Suddenly, the robot thrusted a bucket right infront of Leo's face.

"Well, if you're going to get sick, make sure it lands in this. I definately don't want to clean it up off the floor!" The robot had finished with a look of disgust at the thought. Just as Leo was beginning to feel better, more robots had started to appear at the doorway into the room, and began whispering to each other. As Leo started to have another wave of nausea hit him, he suddenly heard Mrs. Wakeman's voice.

"What are you girls doing? Just because we have a quest in the house now, doesn't mean we should stop making this house a blind-robot friendly place!" she said while standing just outside the view of the doorway.

"Mrs. Wakeman? How IS Jenny doing?" Leo had asked with labour from the floor. Not knowing that Leo was awake, she had a suprised look on her face when she peeked in. When she saw he was on the floor, she became angry.

"Really! Our guest collapses on the floor from weakness and all you girls can think about doing is to stare and whisper? No, no, let ME help him up, you all just go and continue making XJ-9's re-activation as comfortable as possible for her." Mrs. Wakeman said as the girls made a move to assist Leo. She waited for them to leave in various directions, before walking in and yanking Leo up off the floor with suprising strength. "You really do need your rest! Its only been an hour since you collapsed from exhaustion. You can worry about XJ-9 tomorrow, Leo. You've done enough today. For now, gets some rest." Mrs. Wakeman said in a motherly tone as she ushered Leo back into the bed, despite Leo's arguments.

"But she still needs work done on her! She isn't finish-" Leo began, before he was cut off again by Mrs. Wakeman.

"I'm sorry Leo, but you need to rest. Even if I wasn't going to force it upon you, you would probably collapse again part-way through a delicate proceedure and do my daughter more harm than good! So, I am banning you from working on her until you take a nice long sleep." Mrs. Wakeman finished by adjusting her glasses and then looked at Leo with a serious glare. When Leo's only reply was to stare stupidly at her, Mrs. Wakeman took that as a look of submission. Turning and leaving the room, Mrs. Wakeman only paused for a moment as she was closing the door. "Besides, I'm certain Jenny would become distraught at the sight of someone wasting theirselves away for her sake. Anyways, have a good sleep." Mrs. Wakeman had said before closing the door completely. Still staring at the now closed door, Leo smirked to himself and finally spoke to no one in particular.

"I think I'm going to get along with Mrs. Wakeman just fine..."


	13. 13 Dream Sequence

Disbelief. Fear. Pain. Anguish. These were the emotions running through Leo's mind when he fell to the floor, bleeding from a mortal injury. The most unbearable was the disbelief. Disbelief in the fact that he was bested so quickly. That he was going to die this soon. That he had been betrayed by the closest person to him. But the worst was the fear. The sort of tingling fear that freezes you to the spot, simply awaiting your fate. The kind you feel when the barrel of a gun is at your head, and the trigger is being squeezed...

"SAAMMM!-"

* * *

Jolting awake, Leo noticed he was drenched in sweat. _'...Why now? Why is it starting up again? These dreams...they need to stop.'_ Leo thought to himself, as he held his head in his hands. He looked around for his watch to see what time it was, but eventually gave up on finding it. Seeing how dark it was in the room, Leo figured it still must be pretty early in the morning. When he heard movement outside his door, Leo cursed himself. _'Damn, I must have yelled and woken Mrs. Wakeman up...' _He thought as he began searching for way to appologize for his outburst, when the door opened, a timid voice rung out to him.

"H-hello? W-who's th-there?" Jenny asked, sticking her head through the door. When she entered the room entirely, Leo gasped.

"My god, I knew you were going to be in bad shape, and that I had my work cut out for me, but...a wheelchair?" Leo said breathlessly. When Jenny heard Leo speak, her mood improved dramatically.

"Oh, you must be the guy who saved me!" Jenny said with a happy look on her face, which soured quickly. "I can't see anymore...but I recognize your voice from somewhere...who are you?" Jenny asked curiously, but didn't receive a response because Leo was thinking about his dream. "Hello? Are you still here?" Jenny asked with a concerned look on her face, which snapped Leo out of his trance.

"Hm? What? Oh, I'm sorry, I was..." Leo had paused, looking for a plausible excuse to his silence. Picking one at random, he hoped it wouldn't sound stupid. "I was just observing how your body is trying to adapt to it's situation...what was it you needed?"

"I asked who are you..I think I know you from somewhere." Jenny had repeated.

"Oh, you didn't hear me before I shut you off? I'm the same guy who helped you out last year." Leo had answered in a cryptic manner. Jenny had thought back, trying to place him, but got no results.

"Uhm...I can't quite remember. I hope my memory wasn't damaged, too...Mom said she wasn't sure of a way to find out except wait for a situation to arise where we could see." Jenny finished sadly, clearly concerned at her lack of rememberance.

"Oh...well, my name is Leo Silva. Does that ring any bells?" Leo asked in earnest. Not ready for the explosive reaction he got from Jenny, Leo jumped when she replied.

"Oh, Mr. Silva! That hottie from Sky-" Jenny shouted out loud before she covered her mouth and blushed intensely. Leo took one look at Jenny and laughed.

"We'll just put that down as crossed wires: What you mean to think goes to your voice systems instead." He struggeled to say, attempting to stem his laughter. "Also, as I had said last time we met...none of that 'Mr. Silva' crap, okay? I'm not much older than you, anyways, so I shouldn't have a title." Leo finished once he got his laughter under control. This perked Jenny's curiosity, and the teenager in her had to know.

"Say...how much older are you exactly?" Jenny asked, slightly blushing in a blue hue again.

"Thats right! I never answered your, ahh...A/S/L request, did I? You are...what, 16? Almost 17? Well, my birthday is about three weeks before your's, so I'm really not that much old-" Leo had begun, before he was cut off by an explosion of giddy laughter from Jenny. "Are you...okay? If you want, I can take a peek to see if some of your wires ARE crossed, or I can..." Leo began talking, but his voice faded away as Jenny began thinking to herself.

_'Wow, he is even more clueless when it comes to girls than Sheldon! I didn't think that was possible...this should be fun.' _Jenny had thought to herself with a devilish smile splayed across her face, to join her faint blush. Jenny finally came back down to earth when she realised Leo was asking her a question.

"Hellooo..? Earth to Jenny? Do you have the time? If its early, I didn't mean to wake you...if I did."

"Oh! Sorry, its 8:46 AM. I'm usually awake at 7:00 AM, and today was no exception. You didn't wake me up, so don't worry." Jenny had replied. Looking at Leo's confused face, she explained to him how the windows in the house work. He was throughly impressed by the windows suddenly losing a dark tint, allowing light to flood into the room. "What were you shouting about anyways? I thought someone broke in and hurt themselves badly." Jenny asked interestedly.

"Oh, it was just a small nightmare, nothing to worry about." Leo replied, downplaying the fear and anxiety the dream had caused him. He was about to drift off into deep thought about his dream again, when Jenny snapped him back to earth.

"So, did you wanna do anything today? We could call Brad over and hang out. I'm sure Tuck would like to actually see me. He hasn't since I..." Jenny had started, but then trailed off, looking troubled for a fraction of a second. Not wanting to let Jenny's suprisingly good mood be spoiled, Leo broke in.

"Whats your friend's numbers? I'll call them over to here. You're still too banged up to head outside just yet." Leo said in an attempt to get things rolling again. Visibly happy about Leo agreeing the hang out with her and her friends, Jenny sped out of the room in glee.

"Don't worry about it, I'll call them! I have a phone built into me!"

* * *

Brad and Tuck were a few minutes late, due to them having to decipher some of the garbled sounds that was coming out of Jenny's phone. When they finally arrived, Jenny heard them enter and scowled in the general direction of the door.

"Why were you late? I was beginning to think you were not going to show up." Jenny said with a hint of annoyance.

"I think your phone is damaged. We got alot of odd sounds while we talked to you. I hope we got everything right..." Brad said, unfurling a list, as Tuck ambled in carrying a bunch of CDs.

"At this point, I don't really CARE if we got something wrong! You have too many CDs, Brad!" Tuck complained. When Tuck looked over to Jenny, he gasped, and dropped the CDs. "Jenny...your eyes..." Tuck said sadly.

"Yeah, I'm...blind now. Mom says it should only be temporary, she is working on a new pair. Shes concerned about how long it'll take though, because she is making me a new body, too..." Jenny trailed off. As the three friends sat in silence, Leo suddenly burst through the basement door with a smug look on his face.

"Okay, everyone! I have wrangled that beast that Mrs. Wakeman calls a home theatre system and attached a CD player! We can now enjoy some real music, as opposed to Ludwig Van Beethoven...not that, I admit, I don't enjoy listening to him once in a while." Leo finished quietly. Brad, Tucker, and Jenny applauded his immense achievement, causing him to become confused.

"Dude, even SHELDON couldn't figure that thing out. And he is the nerdiest guy I know!" Brad explained.

"Quit waiting guys! My mom will be home in a few hours! I don't wanna be caught using her home theatre system while shes out, so lets enjoy it while it lasts!" Jenny said gleefully, as she wheeled herself onto a platform to go downstairs. As Brad and Tucker went to follow her, Leo stopped them both.

"Can I speak with you both privately for one minute?" Leo had asked, looking concerned. Brad just stared at Leo for a moment, and then nodded his head, an action that Tucker repeated. Just as Leo was about to speak again, Jenny peeked around again from the door.

"You guys coming, or what? I'm getting bored here!" Jenny complained.

"Uhh, yeah, one sec. Leo just has a question. You know: _'Guy Talk'_." Brad said with cool emphasis on 'Guy Talk' to Jenny. Getting some hint unknown to Leo, Jenny blushed and whisked around the corner.

"I'll m-me-meet yuh-you d-down there!" was all Jenny had said before the three boys hear the platform slide down to the basement.

"So, whats up?" Brad asked as he turned back to Leo, wearing a concerned look on his face.

"Well...I'm concerned about Jenny...her mind, that is. We were talking earlier today, and it ended up on the events that...led to her current state. She had trailed off and then...well, she suddenly had an extreme look of sadness wash over her. It was only visible for a split second, almost unrecognizable, but I did see it. When I agreed to hang out with you three today, she suddenly looked very happy, although...I'm sure it wasn't sincere..." Leo had explained. Pausing to take a sip of water from a cup he hadn't been aware he had grabbed and filled, he continued. "Her inability to save the lives of the people on that aircraft must be weighing heavily on her, but she puts on a masking emotion when the situation asks for it, hiding what she is truely feeling. She hasn't come to terms with whats happened to her yet...but I can't blame her. I've gone through equally trying circumstances..." Leo trailed off again, in deep thought, only to snap back again when Brad spoke.

"So what do you want us to do? I want Jenny to...feel better soon. She couldn't help herself even in that situation, the only person she should blame is that monster that wreaked her." Brad said sharply. Leo looked at Brad, and then Tucker, before he looked out the kitchen window and spoke again.

"I'm going to ask you to continue to be a good friend to her. Remind her of her innocence to their deaths when you see she dwells on it, and keep saying it until it finally lodges itself in her head. The more people who do it, the quicker she'll heal mentally." Leo finished. Tucker finally spoke up with a question of his own.

"How do you know this will...make her happy again?" Tucker asked honestly. Leo looked down at Tucker, looking for a way to answer. When he finally found a suitable one, he spoke.

"Because I've seen the alternative." Leo replied.

* * *

As Jenny, Brad, and Tucker all sang along with the lyrics of the latest hit on the Teen Pop music scene, Leo was deep in thought again. He wasn't even aware that Brad was talking to him until he shook his shoulder.

"Dude, you need to loosen up. You always seemed to be thinking deeply about something really seriously. Its not like adults don't need fun once in a while." Brad said in a happy tone. Glancing up with a sour look and a sigh, he saw Jenny stifiling a laugh.

"Seriously, whats with this preconceived motion that I'm like...26? Was it because I was in Skyway Patrol? Need I remind you, Brad, that you were also in Skyway Patrol?" Leo replied in an angry tone. Suprised by his reaction, Brad answered Leo's retorhical question.

"Well, uhm, no...I remember that...it sort of, But, uhh...yeah. How old ARE you then?" Brad asked in an embarrassed manner, rubbing the back of his neck with his palm.

"...I'm only three weeks older than Jenny." Leo replied calmly. Both Brad and Tuck replied with a 'Duuuh...?', causing Jenny to be unable to contain her laughter any longer.

"Oh, I wish I could see the look on your faces! That sound was priceless!" Jenny said once she calmed down a bit. Leo suddenly snapped his fingers, got up, placed his hand under Jenny's chin, and lifted up lightly. "Wh-what are you d-doing?" Jenny stammered, while she blushed intensely.

"Hold still, lemme take a look at your eyes." Leo said in a soothing tone. Getting up and walking over to see what was going on, Brad asked Leo a question.

"What are we looking at, Leo? Is there a way to save her eyes or something?" Brad probed. Letting go of Jenny's chin, Leo replied.

"Well, save them, no. These eyes are written off, unfortunately." Leo said in a cocky manner. Looking back at Jenny, who was still confused, Leo asked her a question. "Jenny? Is your mom working on some eyes for you already?"

"Not yet...she said she was more concerned about my new body she is creating. She wanted to get that done first." Jenny replied, wondering where Leo was taking them with his line of questioning. She didn't have to wait long for her answer though, as he spoke up again.

"So would you guys like to help me get some poetic justice and simultaneously get Jenny a pair of new eyes?"

* * *

It only took about an hour for Brad to return from Leo's home on Toboco Island, after he borrowed the Exo-Suit that Sheldon had built. Leo had directed him to retrieve a crate from his shack in his backyard that had been labeled 'Rare Materials Storage'. As he was approaching the Wakeman Household from the air, he could see and hear Mrs. Wakeman shouting at Jenny.

"...only gone for two hours and you manage to trick Leo into high-jacking my recreation system, and rewire it to play CDs! Really, I didn't design my daughter to twist boys around her finger! And now I hear you have him building you new eyes! The poor boy worked himself to death on saving your life, and you're already pushing him to work on you more!" Mrs. Wakeman finished yelling at a visibly bored Jenny. When Brad landed with the crate infront of Mrs. Wakeman, she was about to speak, but stopped short when she noticed the contents label on the crate. Standing there with her mouth hanging open, Leo appeared from the front door and spoke.

"Yeah, thats Nelliumite. One of the rarest materials in the known universe..." Leo trailed off, where Mrs. Wakeman picked up.

"...and the best to use in robotic optics." Mrs. Wakeman said quietly. She turned to Leo, with an astonished look on her face. "How did you manage to get your hands on this? Especially this amount!"

"Well," Leo began, smiling, "this is where my poetic justice comes in. An ex-girlfriend of mine had given this to me as a present a while back. Then, shortly afterward, she allowed herself to be twisted by Vexus' ideals, and assisted her in attacking the area I had been stationed in at the time, which wounded me pretty badly. I've been trying to decide how to use it to get some justice, and this situation just screams for me to use it. Hence why I offered to begin work on a new set of eyes." Leo had finished. Looking between Leo and Jenny, she spoke up.

"You...offered? XJ-9 didn't ask you to make her any..?" Mrs. Wakeman asked with a rare look of sheer confusion on her face.

"No, mom, I didn't! I would have said something, but when you start yelling I can't ever say anything, so I was going to wait until you were done shouting. You told me this morning how bad he looked once he finished his work on me, so I wasn't even going to ask anything of him for a couple weeks." Jenny finished with a 'hmph'. and crossed her arms. Mrs. Wakeman was going about apologizing to Jenny when Sheldon came running up the street, carrying some rolled up blueprints.

"Hey! Leo! I got your message, and I made some mock-ups of possibilities. Here, take a look at this design! It has..." Sheldon started to speak in very technical terms. Leo, Mrs. Wakeman, and Sheldon began talking in hushed tones about the benefits and drawbacks of various designs, which left Jenny, Brad, and Tuck out of the loop of what was going on. Shrugging to each other, the trio went back into the house to listen to more CDs, while the others were still in discussion.

* * *

"Oh! I meant to ask, what was Leo's house like, Brad?" Jenny asked him, putting on her best attempt at an innocent looking face. Looking at Jenny, Brad laughed.

"You need to work on that face, Jenny. I can still tell when your questions have other motivations for coming around." Brad said, lightly elbowing a now blushing Jenny in the arm. Crossing her arms, she replied.

"Oh, stop being a jark and just tell me! He seems like an interesting guy, so I...you know...want to get to know him?" Jenny finished in a questioning tone. Brad just smiled and shook his head, but answered her previous question anyways.

"I can't even begin the describe the guy's house...it's MASSIVE! He is easily richer than that kid who attempted to wreak christmas using you. Don Prima's net value would probably look like pocket money compared to Leo's." Brad said in an astonished tone, recalling what he had seen. Seeing the confused look on Jenny's face, Brad continued to explain.

"Okay, basically...to purchase some land on Toboco Island, you need some serious cash. Probably about the same amount that Don Prima's and the kid's house combined would total." Brad had paused, doing some sort of calculations using his fingers. Giving up, he continued. "continuing that line of thought, his house is definately bigger than anti-christmas boy's is, And HIS house cost some serious dough, if I recall hearing the end value correctly. To top it all off, based on the reaction that Mrs. Wakeman had when she saw the stuff I had brought, he either has lots of friends who enjoy giving him some rare materials, or he is richer than sin. Leo has an entire storage house of different thing's I've never heard of, all of which must be rare, because the building itself is labeled 'Rare Materials Storage'." Brad finished. Having heard all this, Jenny began speaking silently to herself.

"Amazingly rich, extremely handsome if my memory is correct, and robot savvy..." Jenny said, her voice and body trembling. Tuck being right next to her, he became concerned about his safety.

"Uhh, Jenny? Are you going to explode or something? Cause I'd like to move fir-" he had begun to say, before Jenny began shouting with glee, and accidentally sending Tuck through the ceiling to the next floor.

"He is PERFECT! PERFECT! I just HAVE to go out on a date with him!" Jenny said, swooning. Brad attempting to calm a love-struck Jenny down, Tucker came back down the staircase with an irritated look and a bandaid on his face. Once Jenny had calmed down enough, Tuck 'ahemed' to get Brad's and her attention.

"I just heard Leo shouting something interesting down in the labs when I had to walk by their doors to get back here, you know. I thought about letting you know, but seeing as you just SENT ME THOUGH THE CEILING...I'm not so sure I will." Tuck said defiantly. Turning in Tucker's general direction, Jenny began to plead with Tucker.

"Please! I have to know what he said! PleasePleasePleasePlease! I'll do anything!" Jenny begged loudly. Smiling evilly, Tucker replied slowly.

"...anything?"

"..y-yes..?" Jenny replied warily, realising her goof even before Brad spoke up.

"Oh god Jenny...what have you done..?"

* * *

After an hour of the trio playing "Rabbit Sam's adventure in Candy Land" on the Xcylinder 1800 (Jenny routed the video output through her external input port first), Tucker finally spoke up.

"Okay, I think thats enough torture for one day." Tucker had said in a satisifed tone, to which Jenny tore out the video cable with haste, and began to make gagging sounds. Brad had dropped his controller, and curled into a ball in a corner of the room, shaking. Admiring his handy work, Tuck smiled.

"Now...tell me...what Leo said." Jenny said in-between heaves. Thinking back, Tucker realised he had forgotten most of what Leo shouted.

"Err, well...he said...uhh...heh heh.." Tucker mumbeled, glancing around for an avenue of escape. Expecting this, Jenny quickly grabbed his wrist and raised Tuck into the air.

"Tell me NOW, or I'll make you watch romance movies with me for five hours!" Jenny had threatened, causing Brad to look up and turn white at the sound of his brother's fate.

"Oh god! Tell her Tuck, I think she means it! I can't even wish that upon you, even after what you made us endure!" Brad had shouted at his brother out of fear, mainly because he'd be forced to watch them also as he was responsible for looking after his brother at the moment. Tucker began to panic, thinking wildly, before he suddenly shouted.

"Oh! I remember something now! Let me down and I'll tell you!" Tuck finished with a not-so-innocent smile. Not falling for his trick, Jenny slammed the input cable from the gaming machine back into herself and slid out the disc of the most lovey-dovey romance movie, that was released earlier in the year, from her center storage compartment in a threatening manner. Now fearful for his sanity, Tuck broke. "Okay! I'll tell you what I remember, even if you don't put me down! Fair deal! Just put the movie away!" he begged. Jenny complied, and snapped the movie container closed, tossing the movie inside of herself before closing the door to her central compartment.

"Now, tell me what you know. No second chances at this point, if I feel you don't remember enough, I'm strapping you down and grabbing a box of mechanic's oil wipes, and starting the movie." Jenny said in a very threatening manner. Getting the message, Tucker began to speak.

"Well...what I can recall is that he was shouting in what sounded like surprise and embarrassment at first. Something about you having your privacy from being seen bare." Tucker said while straining to remember what he heard. Seeing that Jenny wasn't satisfied, he continued. "I'm not completely sure of what your Mom and he spoke about, must have been what he had shouted about, and it sounded like she was agreeing with him about something. What I can remember, is Sheldon mumbling something that caused Leo to get angry. What he shouted then, I can recall clearly." Tuck had finished, attempting to cause a cliffhanger. Placing him on the ground, Jenny looked intensely at Tuck, while Brad finally walked over to the two of them.

"What did he say, Tuck? Just because I put you down, doesn't mean my threat still stands." Jenny said in a threatening manner. Waving off the threat, Tucker continued.

"Calm down, I'm getting to that. Anyways, Leo started to shout angrily at Sheldon, in technical terms that I can't repeat, I might add. Eventually he said something I could repeat. 'Jesus, Sheldon...Let me put it into layman's terms for you: She's getting a rack!'" Tucker had said in his best attempt at Leo's voice. Both Brad and Jenny stared at Tucker in a confused manner.

"A...rack? I'm getting a rack? What sort of rack? A weapon rack?" Jenny had asked Tucker in a confused tone. Unable to answer, Tucker just shrugged his shoulders. As Jenny was thinking what this rack could hold, Brad suddenly started making a series of jerky hand movements to his mouth.

"Oh.." was all he said, looking straight forward at a wall, halfway between concerned and laughing. Noticing Jenny looking in his general direction, Brad spoke up. "I'd better not say what I've come up with. I'm 99% sure I'm wrong, there is so many other things it could be. Anyways, what happened after that, Tuck?"

"Not much. Whatever they were talking about, Sheldon must have understood what Leo was trying to tell him, and he started to agree with him. He also said something about him preferring Jenny not kill him. I thought I heard footsteps coming towards the door, so I took off down the stairs to here." Tucker finished. Jenny and Brad looked at each other, trying to think about what the mystery behind Lab door #1 was.

* * *

After trying to listen in on what was going on behind the door a number of times, the trio eventually gave up and decided to wait and see what Jenny's new body would feature. Leo joined them periodically when they hung out, and even joined them on an outing into town when Mrs. Wakeman and himself agreed that she was in a stable enough condition to do so, but he mainly went to ensure she didn't degrade suddenly with no one to help her. Today was no different either, but Leo was a little more relaxed now, as Sheldon also accompanied them. Jenny had become self-conscious of how people had been staring at her and her wheelchair, when Tucker shouted angrily at a group of people who had done just such a thing while the friends sat at a table in Mezmers.

"Tuck, calm down! Its going to happen, there is nothing we can do but wait for my new body..." Jenny said, slightly depressed that her eyes and body had gone past their proposed deadline. Somehow sensing her disappointment, Leo chipped in.

"Jenny, don't sweat the time lapse too much. It just means we're trying to make it better, with less bugs to iron out later. About your eyes..." Leo trailed off, not wanting to let too much out of the bag. He glanced at Sheldon. who nodded lightly, telling him to continue. "Your eyes won't be available to you until your body is finished, because they socket has changed dramatically. They won't fit into your current body, as the eyes are now prongs instead of contact pads. There is also more prongs than pads, so more data can be received and sent to your optical processing unit." Leo had finished, hoping he raised Jenny's spirits a bit.

"That's kind of a downer, I guess...but at-least they'll work better than these did." Jenny finished in a slightly happy tone. Leo looked down, smiling at Jenny, when he noticed that rare flicker of regret again. He grabbed her shoulder, an action which surprised the three other boys.

"Jenny...don't let the past haunt you. You didn't get those people killed, they died because of that freak who attacked you." Leo said with a grim look on his face. Following his lead, Brad chimed in.

"Leo is right, Jenny. There was nothing you could do, even if you went ahead and got yourself killed in a last ditch attempt to save them." Brad finished, where Sheldon picked it up again himself.

"Don't let their death's weaken and destroy you. Let it be your fuel to a speedy recovery, so you can get moving again, and face that jerk in a fight where you and the rest of them can exact their revenge." Sheldon finished, looking fiercely at his friend. Even with the kind words of her friends, Jenny began to cry lightly.

"...but why am I being rewarded with a new, better body, when I...when..I.." Jenny tried to finish before she gave up and placed her head in her hands and began to weep openly. The entire restaurant had come to a stand still, and all the patrons had begun to stare sadly at Jenny, unable to comprehend the amount of emotional pain she was in. Unable to stand seeing his friend in this much pain, Brad reached over and hugged her tightly. Surprised at his action, Jenny warily returned the grasp, before she returned the tight grip and resumed crying into his shoulder.


	14. Chapter 14 All Expenses Paid

**A/N: Sorry folks! Life got in the way, and it took me FOREVER to even get a chance to work on finishing this chapter! I hope you all feel it was worth the wait...**

* * *

Jenny ended up having a series of emotional and mechanical breakdowns throughout the rest of the week, all of which caused Leo's concern to spike constantly. Having finally come to a decision about something, he excused himself from Jenny and the others one day, and proceeded into laboratory #2 to speak to Mrs. Wakeman. Her curiosity getting the best of her, she gave the others some lame excuse about freshening up. Wheeling the corner and close to the door, Jenny stealthily opened the door to listen in on the conversation, hopeful to learn more about her new body (which was going to end up as a Christmas gift, according to Sheldon, Leo, and her Mother).

"...Two thousand a week, take it or leave it. No, I won't go any lower, so don't even ask." Jenny could hear Leo say in a tone of finality.

"B-but, that's such a steep bill! Please, consider going lower!" Jenny could hear her mother pleading with Leo. She heard Leo sigh, and then continue.

"Take it or leave it Mrs. Wakeman. I won't budge. If you don't bite, I'll simply leave, and let you and Sheldon re-work what I did." Leo paused with an air of indifference, before continuing. "Just ensure everything is in order when I return on the twenty second." Leo suddenly said firmly and professionally. Jenny felt rage building inside of her, and began to consider confronting Leo about his insanely high bill he was forcing upon her mother, but decided to sneak away and approach him later. She'd try to play the 'frail damsel' card first, at a later time. Trying to figure out where Leo's sudden lust for money came from, she remembered what had been said the week before. _'He either has lots of friends who enjoy giving him some rare materials, or he is richer than sin.'_ Brad's voice echoed through her head. She arrived at the conclusion that Leo was just insanely rich, and liked to stay that way.

"But he has to place people in tight spots so they have to pay up...I can't believe I let myself fall for a guy like that!" Jenny reprimanded herself.

"Well, you always seem to become infatuated with guys like that, Jenny." Sheldon said from behind her, frightening her. After a hasty apology, Sheldon continued. "As I was saying, you always go head over heels for the 'handsome' and 'athletic' guys." When Sheldon finished, Jenny cocked an eyebrow in his direction and crossed her arms.

"And that's your idea of comforting a girl who made a nasty discovery about how shallow she is?" Jenny said in an irritated tone. Realising his gaffe, Sheldon stumbled to find the words he needed.

"Er, well-I mean, you...uh...oh, you're just pulling my leg again, right?" Sheldon said with a sheepish and hopeful grin. Sighing and turning away, Jenny replied.

"Yeah, sure, I was just joking. You got me." Jenny said hotly. Searching for a way to turn Jenny's mood around, Sheldon found the information he was stumbling for earlier.

"Wait, Jenny! Don't be so down! I don't think you're shallow!" Sheldon shouted after her. Stopping and turning, she angrily looked at Sheldon's direction.

"Give me one good example, Sheldon. One time I wasn't shallow?"

"Well, for starters, the fact that you call me a friend." Sheldon had said. Raising his hand and tut-tuting to quiet Jenny's objections, Sheldon continued. "No, Jenny, I'm aware that isn't really related to infatuation, but I feel it's the fact that you overlook my obvious flaws and call me a friend that makes it such a good example. Its not just that I'm your friend, either..." Sheldon had trailed off, beginning to blush lightly. Jenny detected a rise in Sheldon's temperature, and finally spoke up.

"...what else is there Sheldon? You brought it up, so spit it out" Jenny barked in an annoyed tone, ignoring the fact that she figured he must be embarrassed by whatever it was, based on his heat raising.

"Well...the other, um...example was when you..uh...kissed me on my cheek last Christmas?" Sheldon had finished in a squeaky tone, half expecting Jenny to fly into a rampage at the mention of the event. Jenny recalled this event occurring, and blushed slightly.

"I...guess I did, didn't I? But its not that I liked you, I did it as a reward for believing me when everyone else didn't..." Jenny trailed off, already knowing that Sheldon was going to logically connect it to his argument anyways.

"That is true, yes...but you still kissed me anyways, and didn't shy away at first, or shudder, or anything. In-fact, I was told the one who made the odd action in that case was me, I can't remember though. Therefore, I think that, while you have your moments, in the end you are not shallow and two dimensional, like most of the girls are." Sheldon said in a climactic tone, pausing before his finale. "And seriously, what girl doesn't occasionally go 'goo-goo' eyed over a handsome guy?" he finished. Contemplating this new information for a few moments, Jenny finally replied.

"...why do I ever argue with you? You always win when it comes to logic." Jenny said in a happy tone. Embarrassed at the praise, Sheldon only smiled nervously and scratched the back of his neck. Closing his eyes and smiling at his victory, he was quickly snapped back to earth by Jenny continuing to speak. "It doesn't change the fact, though, that I was attracted to that money hungry creep!" Jenny shouted, causing Sheldon to jump in surprise. Looking at her while she grumbled about something being 'unfair', Sheldon remembered what he had approached her for in the first place.

"Jenny, let me explain to you what you heard. No, please listen." Sheldon said as Jenny started another round of objections. "You missed a very large part of that argument, and you've jumped to conclusions." Sheldon said in a logical tone. Stopping her quiet rant, Jenny looked in Sheldon's direction, and listened. Seeing her attention, Sheldon continued. "Yes, there is a $2000 dollar per week fee being thrown around, but it isn't a fee Leo is tossing onto your Mother. He is actually taking this fee on himself." Sheldon stated. Seeing Jenny's confused look, he pressed on. "A few days ago, Leo was looking for a place to shack up for a long while, so he started looking at hotels and motels in-town through the Internet. Your Mom saw what he was doing, and offered him room and board, so long as he continued to assist her on your new eyes and body. Leo must have been a little insulted at the offer, because he worked your Mom into finally placing a rent of $500 a month. He was about to continue to press her, when my watch alarm clock went off, and we got ready to go into town that day with you, Brad, and Tuck. He...it almost looked like he glared at her, and told her to expect him not to drop it." Sheldon explained, recalling the events of a few days ago.

"So I'm guessing he forced Mom into raising the fee to $2000 a week? So I snuck the door open when he was giving Mother his ultimatum..." Jenny had trailed off, a happy look overtaking her face. "I'm a little ashamed that I jumped to the worst possible idea, but..." Jenny had again trailed off, just before she swooned and her pupils literally reshaped into hearts behind the cracked lens of her eyes. Chuckling, Sheldon simply walked off, keeping his current thoughts to himself.

_'Yeah, he doesn't seem to be a jerk as far as I can tell...but something about him is a little off...I can't figure out what it is though.'_ Sheldon strained to think about what was so weird to his subconscious. Finally shrugging, he sighed to himself. _'Maybe I'm looking too deep into this. I'm probably a bit jealous.'

* * *

_

For the next few hours, Brad had observed Jenny either blushing and becoming very quiet, or speeding off with some excuse, whenever Leo came around. The strange behaviour wasn't lost on Leo, either, and when Jenny took off again because she 'had something in her eyes' when Leo plopped onto the couch to join the other 4 in watching TV, he turned to Sheldon and asked him if he knew what was going on.

"Seriously, shes done this like...4 times now? Do you know whats going on?"

"Well, she overheard you and her mom arguing about the rent. She only heard a part of it, though, and mistook what you two were arguing about. She figured that you were charging Mrs. Wakeman two thousand a week to work on her new body." Sheldon explained, surprising Leo.

"For real? Man, she must be pissed now...no wonder she keeps avoiding me." Leo sighed. He began thinking of a way to approach Jenny, when Sheldon spoke up.

"Actually, she knows the truth now. I told her once I heard her get all angry. Not only that, she began to criticize herself about...things." Sheldon quickly finished, realising he almost slipped to Leo that Jenny was attracted to him. He suddenly didn't want Leo to know about it. _'Oh no, is he on to me? I was pretty obvious, wasn't I?'_ Sheldon thought, as Leo gave him an odd look. Sheldon began sweating on the spot as Leo continued to give him an odd look, but sighed in relief quietly when Leo finally spoke, only to curse himself once he processed what Leo said.

"I suppose I should talk to her anyways. She doesn't need to feel ashamed about being concerned about her Mom's welfare." Leo said with closed eyes, while scratching his chin, not seeing Sheldon smack his own forehead with his palm in jealous anger. Opening his eyes, Leo probed Sheldon with a question. "Say, Sheldon, where's Jenny's room? That's where she'll probably be, right?" At this question, Sheldon looked livid, but responded honestly.

"Up to the top of the upper most staircase...last door on the right. Be sure to knock first, though. She'll attack anyone who comes through the door without declaring themselves first." Sheldon explained. Thanking Sheldon, Leo got up andheaded towards Jenny's room. Watching Leo head up the staircase, Sheldon began to calm the jealous beast inside of him._ 'Its okay, its not like he'll be going into her room...only guy she ever lets in is Brad, and only because he enters from the window most of the time..' _Sheldon thought to himself smugly, while taking deep breaths. He was about to happily head back home, when he heard Jenny answer her bedroom door and say _'Oh, L-Leo! Cuh-come in!'_. Screaming at himself on the inside, he got up and stormed past Brad, who asked why he was so angry. Getting no response except a slamming front door, Brad looked at Tucker, both of them shrugging, and then continued watching TV in Jenny's living room.

As Leo entered Jenny's bedroom, he was surprised by the amount of different computers on the walls, and hanging from the ceiling. In shock, he was only vaguely aware of Jenny's presence. He was suddenly jerked back to reality when Jenny shouted his name.

"Sorry, what did you say Jenny? I'm just surprised by the sheer amount of computers in your room.." Leo said with a sheepish grin while scratching his shoulder. Giggling, Jenny replied with a question of her own.

"You really are a computer geek at heart, aren't you?" Jenny asked openly. Laughing at the question nervously, Leo replied.

"Y-yeah, I guess I am.." Leo said quietly. The two sat in Jenny's room in an awkward silence before Jenny broke the ice.

"Sssooo...what did you want?" Jenny asked shyly, her cheeks giving off a slight blue glow due to a flushing of coolant to the area. Remembering why he was there, Leo suddenly gained a serious look on his face.

"Sheldon explained to me that you overheard me and your Mom earlier. He also told me you were quite hard on yourself." Leo paused, as Jenny's mind raced and the blush on her face began to glow violently.

_'Oh god! Did Sheldon tell Leo I like him? Oh, I shouldn't have trusted HIM with that info! I thought I learned my lesson with Kenny about trusting him with that info! Oh god, oh god, oh god!'_ Jenny's mind screamed and raced, while she began mentally searching for an out. Before she could make up an excuse for kicking Leo out of her room suddenly, he had continued speaking.

"Its fine to be protective of your mother, its nothing to be ashamed of. In-fact, I find it quite admirable that you care so strongly for your mom." Leo said proudly, closing his eyes and resting his hand on Jenny's shoulder. Dumbfounded and relieved at how wrong Leo was about what had occurred between her and Sheldon and an expression to match it, Jenny was speechless. Taking this as embarrassment, Leo opened his eyes and continued. "As I said, no reason to sweat over it. Based on what you had heard initially, I probably would've come to the same conclusion. In-fact, I probably would have rushed in, being the hot-head I am..." Leo trailed off, frowning, suddenly aware of a personal flaw. Snapping himself back to reality, Leo picked up where he left off. "So yeah, I just wanted you to know I have no beef with you about this misunderstanding."

"I...uh...okay.." Jenny said quietly. Thinking for a moment, she recalled something odd Leo had said before. "Oh, I'm curious...where are you going? I heard you tell my mom to have something ready to go when you come back on the twenty second?"

"Oh, well, I've got some stuff to do back at my house. I'm meeting a buddy of mine there. You may have heard of him. Blue suit, spiked back hair kind of like a porcupine. No? Well, it doesn't matter. He is helping me with legal crap, that really shouldn't exist, pertaining to my intervention in your fate...stupid Skyway Patrol bureaucratic bullshit." Leo finished with a mumble and crossed arms, causing Jenny to break into a fit of giggles. Smiling at the sound, Leo started to laugh himself, until he was caught off-guard by Jenny's sudden question.

"...So you'll be joining us for Christmas? I'd find it odd that you'll be returning on the twenty second, just to leave before Christmas."

"Well, your Mom insisted that I stay for your unveiling at-least, and that happens to occur on Christmas Day. I'm leaving now, because Sheldon and me have nothing left to do. The rest is up to your Mother. Meaning I have to do some rapid-fire Christmas shopping now..." Leo trailed off, trouble at this revelation. As Jenny dropped into another series of giggles, Leo's watch suddenly started beeping. Getting up quickly, Leo went to the door to Jenny's room. "I have to leave now, my ride to the airport is here."

"Okay, see you soon. I can't thank you enough for saving my life. Really, no deed I can think of could return the favor fully enough." Jenny said happily. Stopping in the doorway, Leo turned back to Jenny.

"Actually...if you could just wish that the weather doesn't turn bad again until after I return, that'd be just fine. My car isn't exactly designed for winter driving." Leo finished, smirking.

* * *

The fact that Leo had left Tremorton wasn't lost on the local populace of girls. Every time they eagerly craned their necks towards Jenny, Brad, Sheldon, and Tucker as they came around, the group heard them sigh sadly when Leo failed to be present. A couple of girls had even burst out crying. Being more than a little annoyed when this happened the hundredth time, Tucker shouted at the waitress who served them at their table in Mezmers.

"Seriously, why do you all sigh and get sad when we come around? Its extremely annoying being around such unhappy people when we're trying to have fun!" Tucker asked them angrily. Still depressed, the girl responded morosely.

"Its that hot mechanic guy who saved Jenny...we waitresses always looked forward to seeing him, even if he was a little grungy, and let his hair go a little wild." The waitress replied, suddenly growing bubbly and swooning at her memory of Leo, and then becoming depressed again just as quickly. Unhappy with this answer, Tucker was about to pester the waitress again before Brad raised his hand, signaling him to stop. Tucker plopped back into his seat with a defeated and unhappy look, and grabbed the kids menu the waitress handed him. It wasn't long before the group of friends had figured out what they had wanted. Jenny's order was the first to arrive, as it was a constant by-product of the rest of the food Mezmers produced: a bowl of hot Cooking Oil.

"Seriously, that probably won't do you much good drinking that, Jenny." Brad spoke in a concerned tone. Scoffing, Jenny replied after she took a large gulp.

"Brad, my body is ruined and I'm blind. Not much worse can happen to me at this point." Jenny replied curtly. Brad looked at Sheldon for backup, but he only found opposition.

"I don't see the harm in it Brad. I did some calculations before we arrived, and if Jenny even filled her intake with Motor sludge, her vital systems wouldn't fail prior to her being transferred over." Sheldon finished in an intelligible tone. Grumbling, Brad resorted to slumping in his seat and crossing his arms, with an unhappy look included. As Jenny happily drank her 'soup', the group eventually went back into normal conversation. They began to talk about the typical teenage scene news, such as 'Did you hear about so-and-so breaking up with who-and-who? Who would have thought?' or 'That latest #1 song is amazing! We should listen to again!'. Finally, breaking out of their typical conversation mold, Jenny asked an odd question.

"Hey, how is school Brad? I'm assuming the Crust cousins are having a field day with my situation?" Jenny asked kindly, though the frost in her voice wasn't lost on anyone. Brad pondered how to answer her question for a moment, and then replied.

"Well...surprisingly, no. They are avoiding any topic related to you entirely. In-fact, the entire SCHOOL seems to be afraid to mention you at all." Brad answered with slight confusion at this fact. "Its almost like they're scared you'll just drop dead if they utter your name."

"Heh, really? How odd. They were never concerned about talking about me before." Jenny replied coldly. Pausing for a moment to drink from her bowl again, she continued. "Oh, I should clarify...talking about me to spreading rumours about me, or to spread news about another embarrassment caused by the cousins. Or even to simply comment on how much of a freak I am!" Jenny began to shout angrily. The three boys being too shocked at Jenny's outburst, they sat in silent awe at her growing rage. "I'm crippled and blind now! I'm that much more of a freak now, and NOW they're worried about my health? I wonder, is this new concern caused by an honest change of heart, or just the fact that they now have no one to save them? Surely most of them have noticed the Silver Shell's inability to keep up with the growing number of crimes in my absence!" Jenny shouted, unable to see the annoyed look on Sheldon's face. "Personally, I'm convinced that they only see me as a tool for their own self preservation, not a person! For that, they can ALL go to hell!" Jenny screamed with finality, and sped off through the front doors of Mezmers, tears streaming from her eyes, right into another Blizzard that had suddenly formed. Getting up after her, Brad only managed to catch a faint glimpse of her through the intense snow-storm.

"Jenny! Come back, you'll freeze outside! Jenny!"

* * *

By the time the storm had cleared, there was 3 feet of freshly fallen snow resting on-top of everything. Brad had been searching for Jenny for 2 hours in the chilly weather, only being warmed by his winter gear and his own body heat. Grudgingly, he gave into his fatigue, and decided to call Mrs. Wakeman for help.

"Actually, she managed to find her own way home. I was very shocked to see her alone, and when I tried asking about it, she simply glared at me and told me to ask again later." Mrs. Wakeman finished sadly. Sighing with relief, Brad sat down on a snow covered bench, and began to curse himself for being so paranoid and worried about Jenny. Even though she was crippled, she WAS a robot, and with the territory came GPS systems being part of yourself, he figured. Thanking Mrs. Wakeman and brushing off her questions, Brad proceeded to get up and walk to Jenny's house. Quickly dialing Sheldon's number on his cell, Brad let him know everything was okay ('Oh thank god! I was so worried...'). After he finished the call and began his short journey, he found himself reflecting on the past. He remembered how dull and utterly pointless his life had seemed like, up until he met Jenny. Meeting her had been a big turning point in his life, and with it came many adventures, most being different little 'episodes' in their lives. His mind was suddenly flooded with memories of those adventures. One that stood out right away made him chuckle: Tucker had thought, at one time, that Jenny had been plotting to murder him at the drive-in movie theatre. The look on Tucker's face when he saw Brad's 'disembodied' head talking and looking around made Brad laugh even more. As he was swimming upstream through the river of time, Brad came upon the memory of the time when he had fallen into the laboratory of Dr. Locust, and how he somehow rescued Jenny and carried her out, instead of the other way around. He remembered how they just stood there for a moment, Jenny in his arms, the two looking at each other. Brad figured that was about the time that Jenny had come to truly respect him, and it really cemented their friendship. That time where he helped Jenny escape Vexus' clutches on the garbage planet also really reinforced their bond. As he was remembering the number of adventures they had, Brad was suddenly aware of his heart beating quickly. He also found himself feeling quite warm, and had begun to perspire inside his coat. Confused, Brad stopped for a moment and opened his jacket up to allow the uncomfortable heat escape. Brad was wearing a bewildered look on his face, as he began trying to figure out what caused this episode. Unable to come to any concrete idea, he just shrugged to himself.

"I guess she just worries me when she gets into trouble. I'll have to warn her that she is hazardous to my health!" Brad kidded to himself. As he began to walk forward again, he took a look at his surroundings...and noticed he had actually walked straight past the Wakeman household. Chiding himself for being careless, Brad turned back and headed in the right direction.


	15. 15  Holiday Twister

Jenny felt miserable. She yelled at her friends, and not only that, her very first-and very best-friend. She yelled at him because she hated to be given pity, simply because she no longer could walk and see of her own volition, and because she was sure of what she had said: That most of the ones who were worried, were simply concerned about their own well being. While these were most likely true, it wasn't Sheldon or Tucker's fault, and it definitely wasn't Brad's either. The very fact that she was initially created for the well being of humanity didn't help matters much either. It being a realization that really stung more than she could handle, which also confused her as she 'knew' this already. She just never really thought of the gravity - the WEIGHT - behind this reason. While she had been thinking up in her bedroom, She had also thought about why she had begun to become so frail. Wasn't she supposed to only be a stepping stone in the XJ line? So, isn't it possible that she had always been this weak, and simply lucked out every time? Or were her opponents simply getting stronger, and she hadn't been upgraded to account for this? As all these negative thoughts began to swirl around in her head, Jenny began to sob uncontrollably. She snapped back to reality when she heard a knock on her door.

"Uhh...Jenny? Is it alright if I come in?" Brad's familiar voice drifted from behind her door.

"Uhh, one second!" Jenny shouted back, as she hastily tried to wipe the oily tears from her eyes. Before she could finish cleaning up, however, Brad had entered the room. When Jenny glanced up from her rag, Brad could still clearly see remnants of her tears on her face. Not saying a word, Brad walked over and embraced Jenny in a nice warm hug. Jenny quickly returned to embrace, which the two held for a moment before Jenny spoke softly. "Thank you."

"What for?" Brad asked, pulling back a bit and with a confused look on his face. Jenny hung her head in shame, and then spoke.

"For still being my friend after yelling at you and the others, when it wasn't your fault...you guys saved me, and yet I'm being horrible to you. I really don't...deserve to have you care about me." Jenny said sadly.

"Don't you think it's up to me to decide if you deserve for me to care about you?" Brad asked flatly. This caused Jenny to freeze for a moment in confusion, while she computed the meaning about what Brad had just said. Finally figuring out what Brad was getting at, Jenny grabbed him into a tight hug and began to cry tears of happiness, as all her terrible thoughts melted away. Returning the embrace, Brad began to tear up himself slightly. "I'm not going to leave you to the wind just because you finally spoke your mind about our classmates, Jen. I thought you knew me better then that?" Jenny began to hug Brad even tighter, due to her being so happy for having such a wonderful friend. However, Brad began to cough and gag, causing Jenny to gasp and pull away from Brad,

"I'm so sorry! I just kinda...got caught up in my emotions and didn't pay attention. Are you alright?" Jenny asked sincerely.

"Yeah, I'm-" Brad began to say, before he descended into a sneezing fit. Sniffling a little, Brad began to laugh. "Seems I caught a cold." he said happily, but Jenny only frowned.

"I even made you sick when you went looking for me...I'm really selfish..." Jenny moaned. Brad gripped her shoulders and shook his head.

"No, you are not selfish. You are just going through a rough time, Jen. Anybody in your position would act the same." Brad said sternly. Seeing that Jenny was still upset with herself, Brad remembered what Mrs. Wakeman had brought up as he was ascending the staircase. "Hey, your Mom said she was trying to get Leo into a video conference earlier. She mentioned he said he something to show her. You wanna-" he had begun before Jenny began to beam, and shot out of the room into her elevator. Sneezing and chuckling to himself, Brad quickly followed suit.

* * *

During the time Mrs. Wakeman was attempting to contact Leo, Sheldon and Tucker had eventually made their way back to the Wakeman household themselves, looking thoroughly frozen.

"Honestly, it feels like my bones are cracking whenever I move...it kinda hurts." Sheldon had complained, before plopping himself down on a chair near the giant screen Mrs. Wakeman used for communication.

"Well, Mr. Lee, if you dressed yourself better for the cold, you wouldn't be having that issue. Now, XJ-9, if you could wheel yourself over here so I can connect you to the terminal?" Mrs. Wakeman had beckoned to her daughter. All too happy to oblige, Jenny sped over to her Mother's side and promptly opened the video input port in her shoulder. After a few more keystrokes, Jenny let out a surprised 'oh!' once she was seeing at was on the screen.

"Mom, you said you were having issues contacting Leo before? Is he okay?" Jenny inquired with and edge of nervousness. Tut-tutting Jenny for her concern, Mrs. Wakeman answered.

"He was saying some nasty weather was going to make it extremely difficult to get a connection through. He was going to show us a month long convention in a small town in Oklahoma, that was organized as part of the parades for your health." Mrs. Wakeman said happily. The news made Jenny cheer up a bit, but it also brought back her painful memories. Seeing the slight give in Jenny's face, Mrs. Wakeman grasped her shoulder reassuringly. A few moments went by as Mrs. Wakeman sent a conference call to Leo, who eventually answered.

"Hey, guys...uhm, I'm not sure you want to see whats going on now." They could hear Leo's voice, as a video feed was still connecting. After listening, the group could hear sirens in the background, as well as some people sobbing loudly.

"Leo, whats going on? What happened there?" Tucker had shouted at the screen. Once the video connected, they saw a scratched, bloodied, and slightly muddy face with extremely wind-tossed hair greet them. A sad look spread across his face, Leo replied.

"...remember how I said some nasty weather was conjuring up? I wasn't...that far off the mark." Leo said vaguely. Slightly annoyed, Sheldon spoke up.

"Tell us what happened already! It must be pretty bad, with you being scratched like that."

"Instead of telling you I'll...show you. There is only one thing in this area of the US that can do this much damage, so it'll be better if I just..." Leo trailed off, as he spun the device he was using around for them to get a look at the area. Utter devestation greeted their eyes, with trees uprooted, cars bent and dented, and houses demolished. A dark grey sky shadowed the scene, making it even more morbid and frightening. The entire scene made the group collectively gasp. "It just appeared out of nowhere...in the middle of winter of all times." They heard Leo say gravely. "I only just made it into a storm cellar when it hit the house I had sheltered from the rain in."

"A tornado in the middle of winter..." Mrs. Wakeman said quietly in shock.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt badly?" Jenny had asked frantically. As he turned the camera back, Leo simply grunted and shook his head, and then looked like he was going to speak a number of times before he finally found the words he wanted.

"The tornado blew out a window near me. I only got scratched, but a boy next to me...his face has glass embedded in it." Leo paused, as the mood in the room at Tremorton dropped even further. "I helped him to hospital, thats why I have this much blood on me." Leo had begun to explain, but he glanced away from the device he was using as he was interrupted by some shouting. Looking back at the device, he became rushed. "Sorry, I've got to go. They found someone in the rubble of a building across the street and need help. I'll be fine, but I might be a bit late. I won't miss Christmas though!" Leo promised as he ended the call. After Mrs. Wakeman shut down the terminal and disconnected Jenny from it, she proceeded to an old and cobwebbed bookcase she never touched. Curiosity perked, Brad asked her what she was looking for.

"I never mentioned this before, but I used to be extremely interested in the weather. I had almost majored in it, but fate placed me in the direction of nurturing my skills in robotics instead. I know a thing or two about the weather, but it's been a while, and - ahah! Found it!" Mrs. Wakeman shouted in a feverish ecstasy. Seeing that she had become quickly engrossed in her studies of...something, Brad decided to stop his line of questioning, lest he get a lecture on interrupting people, or a lesson in weather. Noticing the mood of the others and his own, he decided to take charge in lightening the atmosphere.

"Hey guys, how about we write our wish lists to Santa? I'm sure he'll be concerned we haven't sent our wishlist to him."

* * *

It was early on the 24th of December when Mrs. Wakeman finally heard from Leo again. After Mrs. Wakeman told Jenny, she quickly dialed up Brad's home phone number (using the phone her mom used, only because Brad made her swear off her internal phone) to tell him the good news.

"He said he was a few hours away? If he came up from Oklahoma, he must have gone through Megaville. Lucky jerk..." Brad grumbled over the phone, prompting Jenny to giggle.

"Hey, lets go out shopping and get some stuff to make a good dinner for everyone! Its really nice and warm out today. At least, that's what the weather station is broadcasting." Jenny thought happily. Brad agreed and headed right over to get ready to go. Once Jenny had secured a method of payment, a cart, and the shopping list from her mother, the duo headed out the door and headed to the mall in silence for a while, until Jenny suddenly stopped. Brad kept walking for a few steps before noticing Jenny had stopped, and looked at her questioningly.

"Whats up, Jen? You stuck?"

"...Don't you find it weird?" Jenny asked suddenly, in an odd tone. Taking Brad's silence for confusion, Jenny explained. "Blizzards appearing out of nowhere, heatwaves in the middle of December, and Winter tornadoes? Don't you find it weird?" Jenny had finished, as Brad took it in and thought about it.

"Well...I know that Winter Tornadoes are a rare occurrence, and are almost unheard of. But, Jen, it DID happen in Tornado Alley, so maybe that influenced it...? I don't know much about weather, but seeing as a Tornado did form, couldn't that mean a weird heatwave could also happen in the middle of December? And Blizzards are totally normal in the winter, so..." Brad suggested, scratching the back of his neck and shrugging his other arm in an unsure manner.

"I'll admit, the Blizzards may be natural, but a heatwave almost directly after them?" Jenny said with a sigh, joining Brad in a shrug.

"Maybe you're just looking for trouble? Being cooped up like you have been is totally different than what you are used to. Besides, it's not like we can figure it out anyways. Neither of us is a Meteorologist." Brad in an intelligent tone on the matter. The two continued their trip to the Mall, but had continued to chatter about random topics on the way, making the trip more interesting to both of them. When they arrived and went about their business in the grocery store, collecting the ingredients needed for the various meals they were going to make, Brad noticed many people looking at Jenny and casting sad, pitying looks in her direction. Anger flared up inside Brad, but he was surprised by Jenny grasping his wrist.

"I can tell you're angry; I can hear the whispers, too. Don't worry about it, I've gotten used to the whispering. Its not like it didn't happen before, anyways." Jenny said in a quiet, soothing tone. Grumbling, Brad decided to let the subject drop, and continued gathering items on the shopping list Jenny had printed from herself. By the time they had gathered what they needed, the duo had spent a generous amount of time simply getting all their groceries into the cart lent to them by Mrs. Wakeman.

"My god, Jen! Is your Mom going to feed an ARMY?" Brad groaned as he strained against the large weight in the cart. Shrugging in reply, Jenny scanned the list and her face grew a look of mild surprise.

"Wow, this is a really large list...I didn't bother to scan it in before, but this is a much larger Christmas Eve and Christmas Dinner list than the past two years." Jenny thought aloud, as Brad continued to grunt and moan as he hauled the heavy load up a slight incline. Mistaking Brad's exhausted silence (which was only interrupted by the occasional groan) as a request to explain, Jenny continued to speak on the subject. "I'm not kidding, the total average amount of increase in the organics alone has risen by 73.647%, compared to the other dinners, where even Santa himself was present. There is also a 5.4% rise in the amount of napkins, and a 7.1% increase in the amount of dish soap, and an even further-" Jenny had started to ramble, before being interrupted by an irritated Brad.

"That's cool an' all, Jen, but if you don't HELP me with all this crap, there won't BE A CHRISTMAS DINNER!" Brad shouted, as he strained against the wagon, which had begun to casually roll down the incline, pulling him along with it.

* * *

When Brad and Jenny had finally arrived and deposited their load in the kitchen, Jenny had called for Mrs. Wakeman. After she received the debit card back (begrudgingly) from Jenny, Mrs. Wakeman began prancing around the kitchen, humming Christmas tunes and cooking what looked to be a feast, but only using a small portion of the food available. After multiple attempts to ask her mother why they had so much food being left alone, Jenny eventually gave up and was about to ask Brad if he wanted to listen to some music up in her room when her mother noticed the two of them still standing in the kitchen.

"I suppose you two are curious as to why exactly I made you get so much food?" Mrs. Wakeman asked slyly. The duo nodded earnestly, but to their dismay, they received no straightforward answer. "Sadly, I cannot tell you. It is part of a Christmas secret, and if I were to tell you, it would ruin the surprise. Now, off you go! You'll just be in my way if you stay in the kitchen." Mrs. Wakeman finished, as she shooed Brad and Jenny out of the enormous kitchen. As the doors swung shut, Brad and Jenny maintained a cautious silence as they ventured up to her room.

"Have you noticed that whenever your Mom does something like that, something bad happens later?" Brad asked in a worried manner. Nodding in agreement, Jenny kept wondering what this Christmas Secret was. Eventually it was pushed out of her mind, as after an hour of swapping gossip, listening to music, and just being teens, Jenny and Brad started to hear a guttural roar of an engine in streets of Tremorton. Getting up in a frenzy, Brad was dashing about, getting his jacket on and repeating "Oh man, he brought it! Oh man! He said if it snowed he wouldn't, but he did anyways, oh man!" multiple times. Jenny finally managed to grab his wrist again, snapping Brad out of his hectic trance.

"Brad, what the hell is going on with you?" Jenny asked in an annoyed manner. Collecting himself, Brad explained himself.

"Its Leo! He told me he would try to bring his super expensive car and would let me drive it. He said something about it being super rare? Its worth over 1 million dollars! And he is going to let me-!" Brad broke into gibberish, literally foaming at the mouth at his realization of the potential popularity Leo could bring him. Jenny cringed at the sounds escaping her friend, but did become excited herself, for different reasons. Brad quickly collected himself a second time, and dashed down the stairs to meet Leo at the door, leaving Jenny up in her room alone with her own fantasy.

"Eeee! My knight is coming back!" Jenny shouted aloud to no one in particular, but an annoyed and jealous XJ-6 answered from the hallway.

"Oooooh! Jenny has a crush on Leo! Jenny and Leo, sittin' in a file-tree-" she had begun shouting, before being rudely cut off.

"SHUT UP!" Jenny shouted back.

* * *

A few moments later, Jenny had joined Brad and her mother outside. Seconds later, a car came zipping around the corner, closely followed by a large pickup truck. People who lived on the street were opening their doors and peeking from their blinds to see what the racket coming from the lone vehicle was about. Jenny was only left to wonder in blackness, with 'OPTICS ERROR' a constant sight. As Jenny began to again recall her horrible memories, she was suddenly jarred back to reality as someone shook her shoulder hard.

"Hey, you still with us, Jenny?" Leo had asked in a joking manner. Surprised by the sudden contact, Jenny let out a cry of shock and sent Leo flying, despite his attempt to block her arm. He slammed, back-first, into the driver's side of the pickup that had been following him with a resounding 'CRUNCH'. Eyes screwed shut, Leo let out a high pitched and horse "...ouch.". and then fell to the ground. The person driving the truck got out the other side, screaming about a robot Apocalypse while running in the opposite direction. After realising what had occurred, the three at the door rushed over to Leo's side.

"Oh my god, Leo! I'm so sorry, you just scared me! Are you okay? Please be okay!" Jenny shouted loudly and frantically. As Mrs. Wakeman fussed over a gash on the back of Leo's neck and Brad kept exclaiming how cool the incident was, Leo kept a constant look of awe in Jenny's direction. Unaware of Leo's condition, and hearing no response, Jenny spoke his name again. "Leo...are you okay? Say something, I can't see you.."

"Wow, you're...REALLY strong." Leo said breathlessly. Jenny felt embarrassment boiling up inside from the compliment. Leo began to stand up gingerly, grimacing and groaning slightly from the sore muscles in his back. Looking at Jenny again and noticing her worried look, he finally answered her question. "Don't worry about me, I'll live."

"I suppose we should get your things inside, Mr. Silva. It'll give me a chance to have a better look at that nasty cut you have." Mrs. Wakeman had announced in a motherly tone, as she glanced over the various items laying inside the truck bed. After stretching slightly, Leo began to remove his things into the house, being assisted by Brad. The process was quite short, as he only brought a small selection of items with which to assist with Mrs. Wakeman's research. Once everything had been brought in, Leo followed Mrs. Wakeman into the lab, where they stayed for a few moments, allowing Jenny and Brad to sneak over to the door and listen in to the conversation.

"...data is looking great, better than I expected. Course, data, as well as software and programming, has never really been my forte." the two eavesdroppers heard Leo say, followed by a chuckle from Mrs. Wakeman.

"Your prowess and dexterity with mechanics more than makes up for that, Mr. Silva. Your design for the WOK, and the method for building many of her other parts, as well as your dexterity, really made it possible to help my daughter witness some of her dreams come true on Christmas day, and for that I can't thank you enough." Mrs. Wakeman praised Leo. Jenny blushed in an embarrassed manner, realising Brad was also hearing her Mom being gushy. Leo let out a nervous chuckle, and the duo outside the door could tell he wanted to change the subject quickly.

"I-it was, uhh, nothing. Seriously. But, uhm, how is the WOK coming along? That's the one part I'm really concerned about. If it doesn't operate correctly, she may require cleaning internally." Leo said unhappily at the thought of the process. Mrs. Wakeman Tut-tutted, and began explaining that while he was gone she had to make some modifications in many scientific terms that did nothing but simply confuse Brad and Jenny. Eventually, she went back to simple English, much to the happiness of the now disgruntled pair outside the door.

"...but other than that, it is operating as it should - beautifully." Mrs. Wakeman finished contentedly, but quickly spoke again. "Ooooh, I'm just so happy for her! She'll finally get to enjoy the finer things in life that we humans get to without a thought!" Mrs. Wakeman said in a gleeful manner. Leo must have mumbled something to himself, as Mrs. Wakeman asked him to speak up.

"Oh, nothing important, I was just making a mental note to myself. Anyways, seeing as we're on this topic of Jenny having synonymous functions to humans, whats the story about the WO-" Leo had begun, before being cut off by Mrs. Wakeman.

"That is being deactivated until she is old enough to handle the responsibility. I also took the precaution of ensuring the catalyst is removed from it, incase she discovers the system and either forcibly, or accidentally, activates it."

"..past experience with untested equipment, I'm assuming?" Leo asked politely.

"Yes, indeed. That dream module she asked me to make for her a while ago...the fact that she found an error in it's programming and abused it for her own entertainment has made me a little more careful when it comes to new parts and functions." Mrs. Wakeman explained, recalling the time when Jenny nearly killed Brad, Tucker, and herself, calling them 'Medusa and her minions'. Leo must have become uncomfortable in the short silence that followed, as he coughed a little, before he spoke himself.

"Uh, so...is there anything else to work on?"

"Hm? Oh, nothing mechanical, no. Sheldon is finishing up on the software updater for her secondary systems, and I just need finish with my SynthSculpting, and after that start inlaying the nervous system. Should be an easy process, but it may be a long night for me." Mrs. Wakeman lamented on the monotonous work ahead of her, after she finished making Christmas Eve dinner.

"I'd offer to help, but Sheldon and I took a pledge about working on that." Leo said in an apologetic manner. Mrs. Wakeman tsk-tsk'ed him.

"Don't worry about it, I completely understand. She does need her privacy, after all. You go ahead and catch up with her and Mr. Carbunkle, I'll make sure this gets finished in time." Mrs. Wakeman said in a happy tone. When Jenny and Brad heard Leo's footsteps near the door, they panicked, and fled from the door, rushing into the living room. Leo exited the lab, and headed towards the living room himself, where he found Jenny and Brad watching a documentary on haunted places.

"Hey, since when were you guys interested in the paranormal?" Leo asked interestedly, not noticing Jenny's hand slowly retracting from the back of the television, dragging a video input cable with it.

"Since, uhm...forever?" Jenny replied as innocently as possible, flashing him a large, wide, and suspicious smile. Leo frowned and wondered what she was up to, but ignored the obvious sign of her having done something.

"Did they say where it was? I've only looked into this stuff once or twice, so..." Leo asked. Brad looked over at Leo with his eyebrow cocked at this information, but answered anyways.

"Its that old Skyway Patrol space port that was attacked over a year ago. The one they launched missions from. What was it's name...?" Brad trailed off in thought. However, he quickly noticed that Leo was wide-eyed and pale. "Hey, Leo, you feeling okay? You suddenly look really sick, man."

"...The name of the space station was 'Station Zero', and it occurred a year and six months ago. July 3rd." Leo said in a shaky tone, staring blankly at the floor and bracing himself on the couch Jenny was sitting on. Snapping out of his trance, he quickly glanced at Jenny and Brad, both with worried looks on their faces, and then quickly walked towards the staircase and went up. "I'm sorry, I can't sit and watch it with you guys. I have to organize my stuff." Leo shouted down to them from his doorway.

"What was that about?" Jenny thought aloud in a worried tone and a look to match it, but Brad had no exact answer.

"Maybe he just hates ghosts?"


	16. Chapter 16  The Water Balloons

The time Leo had taken to finally descend from his room hadn't helped his mysterious nervousness that had cropped up from earlier, as he allowed a worried and wide-eyed look sweep across his face a number of times when he figured no one was looking. Brad had been keeping on eye on him in hs peripheral vision, however, and had become increasingly concerned and curious. When Brad and Sheldon, who had arrived shortly after Leo bolted up the staircase, went downstairs to fetch some soda and oil cans, the two began to exchange information about his condition.

"If no one looks at him for a bit, he'll allow himself to fall into what looks like some sort of paranoid worry. I've never seen him do anything similar before, and it only happened when that ghost show investigating Station Zero came on." Brad explained to Sheldon. Nodding slightly, Sheldon glanced around a bit, and spoke quietly.

"When I was leaving the washroom earlier, I could hear him mumbling from his bedroom. I pressed my ear to his door and I managed to hear him say: "...can't people leave that place alone? I've left it alone..", and I tried harder to listen, but then he got too quiet." Sheldon whispered nervously, pausing to glance around again. "I think he may have heard me at his door, to be honest."

"I kinda think he is just afraid of ghosts. The show had replayed footage of one of those circle thingies that zip around when he went pale. Maybe it was just coincidence?" Brad replied at a normal volume. Sheldon shook his head quickly, disagreeing with Brad.

"Maybe, but it doesn't explain why he was mumbling about Station Zero being left alone. I'll tell you, something about Leo makes me...I don't know? Suspicious? Worried? I can't quite explain what this feeling is, but its like he is hiding a really deep, dark secret. One of which I can feel the vibe, because it is so bad." Sheldon said in a manner not unlike a suspicious fear. Brad chuckled, and gripped Sheldon's shoulder.

"I think that you are watching too many horror movies, Shel. I'm sure if he was some sort of psychopath, we'd have found out by now." Brad, paused for a moment, looking back up the flight of stairs to the main floor, the light from it splayed across his face, and then climbed up them while speaking. "If you really ARE that concerned, just do a search on him. I doubt you'll find anything to get worried about." Sheldon stood still for a moment, thinking about what Brad had said, and then laughed himself, chiding himself for being so childish.

"I suppose you're right, Brad. Skyway Patrol has controls for crazy people getting in anyways."

When Brad and Sheldon came back upstairs to join Jenny and Tucker in the living room, Jenny grew a smirk when she heard to duo enter.

"You two having a tender moment down there, or something?" Jenny zinged. Hardey-harr-harr'ing, Brad handed her a can of oil, to which she opened and took a sip with feverish delight. "Thanks, Brad! Anyways, you see Leo sitting at the desk?" Jenny pointed to Leo, to which Brad and Sheldon looked over to see him sitting at a desk with a pen and paper.

"How the hell did you know I was here? I thought you were blind?" Leo asked from the desk, looking up from his work, and promptly noticing one of the many security cameras installed pointed towards him. Leo began to berate Jenny for hacking into her Mom's security system, but Jenny just ignored him and continued to speak.

"You guys were missing the most intense thing he has done all night: paperwork." Jenny said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. Turning in his chair, Leo shot Jenny an annoyed look and then returned to his paperwork.

"It has to be done, otherwise I screw my companies up. Even while I let the councils still at the companies make most of the decisions while I'm away, I still have to review and approve the shit they do." Leo stated in a professional manner using less than professional words. "Yes, even on Christmas Eve." Leo shot in, seeming to already know what Jenny was going to say before she said it. Hmphing with a slight grin on her face, Jenny replied.

"Just don't spend the whole night working! Live a little and have fun. Anyways, I wanted to ask, my Mom is bringing out some Ethanol fuel and Camphene during dinner for me to try, do you know what they are?" Jenny had asked innocently, and Leo let out a short burst of loud laughter.

"Did you just say Camphene? Your Mom is going to let you drink CAMPHENE?" He asked, teetering on the edge of bursting into laughter again. Jenny nodded cautiously, and Leo quickly let out a torrent of raucous laughter. Finally calming down enough to talk, mainly due to a lack of air in his lungs, Leo explained his behavior. "Jenny, I highly recommend you stay away from it. It has an incredibly pungent smell to it, many of us will end up avoiding you because your breath will hurt our noses if we smell it. Not to mention you'll get completely wasted." Leo added, just before he started laughing again at the thought of Jenny being drunk, and was quickly joined by Brad and Sheldon. Tucker just shrugged unknowingly, and Jenny crossed her arms, frowned, and 'hmphed'.

"I can totally handle a few drinks! Just you watch!"

"You sure about that? You didn't even know what the stuff was until Leo mentioned you'd be drunk." Sheldon asked curiously. Jenny nodded, her arms still crossed.

"Yes, I'm sure. I'll have to be, otherwise I won't be able to help place the presents under the tree." Jenny stated matter-of-factly. A few seconds past before Leo gasped.

"Aw, shit! I knew I forgot something important, I needed to buy replacement gifts! That damned funnel cloud stole them all!" he shouted, as he ran to the front door and grabbed his coat. Brad got up quickly and rushed over to Leo.

"Let me go with you! I'll help you pick out some great presents." Brad pleaded. Leo took one quick glance, and then spoke.

"Sure, I could use the help. It'll also let you get a feel for what my car drives like. If you beat me out there into the driver's seat, you can drive." Leo said, winking at Brad as he did up his jacket. Brad moved with a blazing fury, and blasted past Leo, who was still tying his shoes. "Sucker, I have the keys with me." Leo snickered as he finished up on both shoes. As Leo stood up, he and the other three near to TV heard a window break and the familiar roar of the engine in Leo's car start up. "What the hell? How did he start that car up? I have the keys with me!" Leo loudly in a confused manner, before he burst out into the yard, shortly afterwards the trio still in the house heard Leo shout 'What the hell, you broke my goddamn window!', causing them to burst into raucous laughter.

"Anyone...think we shoulda...warned him...not to tease...Brad?" Tucker managed to say laughingly between gasps for breath. Jenny, doubled over and clutching her stomach replied.

"No! God no!" She said shrilly, followed by more laughter. Once the calmed down enough, Jenny explained her answer. "Personally, I think he kind of deserves it for forgetting about the most important part of Christmas: The giving of presents. And more so, because he let paperwork distract him."

"Shush, I'm trying to watch 'How The Grump Stole Christmas'!" Tucker suddenly shouted, causing an annoyed Jenny clocked the back of his head with a closed fist. "Ow! That hurt!"

Two hours later, three sets of grumbling stomachs, and nine low energy warnings were witnesses to the sound of the return of Leo's vehicle. Mrs. Wakeman excitedly rushed into the kitchen to set the table, mostly out of sheer hunger. Sheldon was dragged into the kitchen behind her once he got stuck infront of the herd of tipsy XJ's 1 though 8. Jenny, also slightly tipsy herself, as her mother had brought out some Ethanol, kept bumping into things.

"Damn it! I can't steer right with the reaction downing effect of the Ethanol." Jenny said, frustrated. An understanding Tucker began to push her into the kitchen, when Brad stumbled into the house with a look of sheer happiness.

"Hey Brad, where is Leo?" Tucker asked innocently. Stopping in his tracks and snapping back to reality.

"Leo, Leo, uhh...Oh! Leo! He's still at the mall." Brad smiled proudly, before snapping his eyes wide open and clutching the sides of his head. "Oh God! I left him at the mall!" Brad shouted out loud as he ran back towards the door, but was promptly knocked back when Leo kicked the door open. Slamming it closed and chest heaving, he proceeded to snap every lock on the door closed, and then closed the blinds. flicking one of the slats up, and peeked outside for a bit. Once he had calmed down a bit, he turned to Brad quickly.

"You. YOU!" Leo shouted, as he spiraled into a sudden rage. "When you took off before I had even got in, I was fine, and I laughed a bit. So I went and got myself cleaned up, shaved, and got a haircut. But THEN! THEN I went into a liquor store, got some different types of wine for dinner and I ran into a pair of girls, called themselves cousins. It must have been dark in there at first, because they acted like normal human beings when they introduced themselves to me. Okay, cool, everything is going good. But then I step into the light at the till and the one who sounds like she is from the 'hood squees and says 'Oh mah gawd! He has got to be the most rediculously hawt guy I have evah seen!', which leads to me having to run for the hills with the drinks, lest horrible, unimaginable things occurred! Worse still, I'm completely convinced I never paid the guy at the till! One sec.." Leo paused in the middle of his rant, and pulled out his phone to check something. Confirming with an 'oh, hm.', he continued to rant, but was quickly cut short. "Never mind, I did pay him! But it doesn't change thi-"

"OI, QUIT SCREAMING AND GET IN HERE, I'M STARVING!" Sheldon screamed from inside the kitchen. Just as Leo was about to shout an obscenity back, there was a forceful banging on the front door.

"XJ-9! We know you're hiding that handsome beast inside there! Hand him over and we won't break the door down!" Brittany Krust shouted frantically.

"Eeeeep! WhatdoIdowhatdoIdo!" Leo yelled to no one in particular, as he ran around looking for a hiding spot not unlike that of a frightened rabbit. By now, everyone in the kitchen had left it to watch the spectacle that was unfolding in the living room, to which most of them found humorous. Mrs. Wakeman made it known that she was not one of them.

"What on earth are you doing to my door! Leave immediately!" she shouted back at the cousins. When the banging suddenly stopped, Mrs. Wakeman sprouted a victorious smile. Leo began to thank her, but he was cut off and Mrs. Wakeman's smile was quickly wiped away when the door caved inward due to one strong heave from about 5 girls, with another large group behind them. Leo panicked and started running, but he tripped on the leg of an end table, sending him shouting and flying right towards Jenny. Jenny, who was still connected to her mother's security system, was aware of her and Leo's plight, and promptly raised her hands in reaction.

"Aaahh!" was all she managed to get out as Leo's face plowed squarely right into her own, causing both of them and Jenny's wheel chair to fall backwards. The awkward silence that followed only served to intensify the embarrassment, as when Leo pulled himself back up, it was visible to everyone that the pair had accidentally locked lips. Leo, completely red in the face, helped and equally embarrassed Jenny get back into her Wheelchair.

"I'm soooooo sorry Jen. I...I definitely did not mean to...you know...didn't mean to..." Leo trailed off, scratching the back of his neck and glanced over to a wall, still red in the face.

"It's okay, I know it was an accident, I...I saw it from the camera." Jenny said quietly, her cheeks glowing a radiant blue. As an awkward silence fell upon the scene, XJ-4 sighed and left the kitchen towards the front door, and began to pick it up and put it back into the frame, to which the now sulking girls outside offered no resistance. Once it was all patched up, everyone inside the house was silent, save for Sheldon, who was making little noises and shaking his fists at some unknown entity in the ceiling. Thoroughly irritated, XJ-4 spoke up.

"Gosh people, it was just an accidental kiss! Get to the kitchen, its time for dinner! I don't want to have to clean up perfectly fine organics just because they went cold!"

After an hour of good fun, good food, and holiday tunes, nearly everyone was smashed. Mrs. Wakeman was saved from the headache in the morning, due to her requiring proper control of herself as she would be finishing her work on Jenny's body, whereas Tucker was simply too young to drink. The older XJ's were welcome to the Ethanol, but were content with simply being rambunctious with their 'younger' sisters, and gossiping about those around them, much to the dismay of the subject when the conversation landed on them. Brad and Jenny, however, were busy laughing hysterically at the funny sounds they were making, whereas Leo and Sheldon were having a drunken debate over what was an easier method of installing an OS ('slipstreaming over a network is easiest..est!' 'No, placing a ghosted copy is easier!'). As the night wore on, everyone had come to the same conclusion: Jenny absolutely had to be the most drunk of them all.

"I...am toterrly not drunk. Rught Mmmother?" Jenny managed to slur. Looking at her Daughter, she frowned, but then cracked a smile and shook her head.

"I'm sorry, XJ-9, but you are, as they say, 'totally sloshed'. You are going to have quite the painful electro-static buildup in your forehead tomorrow morning." Mrs. Wakeman replied in a scientific manner. Looking at Jenny's face and deciding to take her look for one of confusion instead of a drunken stupor, she sighed and then 'dumbed down' what she had just said. "You'll have a robotic equivalent of a hangover."

"...Oh. Great, no-now I can't put the gifts out." Jenny complained, waving her arms around wildly in her drunken state. She managed to hit Brad (Who fell into a drunken sleep) with the back of her palm, knocking him and his chair backwards onto the floor, prompting Leo, Sheldon, and herself to burst into laughter. After getting his bearings, Brad began to join the laughter himself, though still unaware as to what they were laughing about. Mrs. Wakeman took the scene in, and shook her head.

'_I definately let them get too wild with the drink. I think its time for everyone to go to bed._' Mrs. Wakeman thought to herself. As if reading her mind, XJ-8 ambeled over.

"Would you like me to escourt the inebreated ones into their beds now, mother?" she asked in her familiar monotone robotic voice. Mrs. Wakeman looked at XJ-8 for a moment before removing her eyeglasses to rub her eyes.

"Yes, lets have XJ-9 and the others get the gifts out under the tree, and then it's time for bed. I'm tired already, and I still have work to do." Mrs. Wakeman said exhaustedly. While almost everyone went out into the living room, Brad, Tuck, XJ-4, and Mrs. Wakeman remained. The two boys suddenly grew mischevious smiles, as they shot off into the dish washing room. XJ-4 and Mrs. Wakeman heard them operate a faucet, and just as quickly as they left the kitchen, and entered it again and shot off to the other side, Brad stumbling a bit in his drunken state.

"What on earth are those boys up to now?" Mrs. Wakeman asked interestedly. XJ-4 shugged her arms, and then proceeded to clean the table.

"So long as they don't make a mess, I don't want to get involved in XJ-9's friend's pranks." XJ-4 said happily. Mrs. Wakeman silently agreed, and began to walk towards the labs to finish her prior work, when she suddenly heard a loud and wet 'SPLAT!' come from the living room, and then Jenny's drunken screams about water balloons and how lucky it was she had been waterproofed. Chuckling to herself as she continued to walk down the staircase.

'_Its so nice to see her having such close relationship with humans. Makes me hope for a better future where she is more readily accepted._' Mrs. Wakeman thought to herself. Stopping on the stairs and thinking about what she just said, she almost doubled over laughing at herself. '_Of course she'll be accepted, Noreen! There is no way she won't be, not with the body she is about to be endowed with!_'

She was lying against a tree, without a care in the world. It was a beautiful and sunny day, with a light breeze flowing through the blades of grass, causing them to wave lazily. The sound of a stream trickling next to the tree beckoned her to close her eyes. She could lay here forever, never moving, being one with the serenity. It would have been possible, too, had a random thought not popped into her head and she closed her eyes. '_How did I get here again?_' Jenny thought to herself, as her eyes shot open and she became more aware of her surroundings. As she picked herself up, she suddenly realized she could see and stand. She was ecstatic at the revelation, but was a little more concerned as to how she ended up wherever she was. Popping open her chest communicator, Jenny tried to execute a call to her mother, but no one answered her call. Annoyed at her Mother's lack of availability, she instead probed her GPS locator to get a fix on her location. The reading it gave her caused her greater concern, as it listed her as laying down on her bed, in her bedroom back at her house. Beginning to panic, Jenny rushed up the hillside that was next to the tree and took a better look at her surroundings. Not seeing a single piece of familiar landscape, Jenny attempted to fly to get a better view, but was greeted with the disturbing error of 'No Fuel'. In her ever increasing panic, Jenny began to shout.

"Hello? Is anyone out there? I'm lost; I don't know where I am! Hello?" Jenny shouted, cupping her hands to her mouth like a mega phone. Receiving an uncomfortable silence only punctured by the stream in reply and feeling the emergence of a malicious intent, Jenny descended into pure hysteria. She tried to use her internal phone to contact all her friends, but received a robotic reply of 'Number Not In Service'. As she dropped to her knees and let out a screaming cry, tears of oil streaming down her face, and begging for someone to help her, she became faintly aware of someone walking up a dirt path leading to her that had suddenly appeared. Whipping around, she took a look at the figure, which was wearing a hoodie. Strangely, their face was entirely black even as the sun beat down upon it. Still panicky, but also becoming frightened by the figure, which seemed to radiate the sensation of malice that Jenny was feeling, she called out to them.

"He-hello? Wh-who are you?" Jenny's voice shook. The figure stopped and seemed as if to look up to her. Just as Jenny was about to speak again, a pair of red glowing dots appeared in the black area of the hooded figure. Jenny fell to her knees once again and become frozen on the spot, whimpering. When the figure retracted their hood, Jenny was shocked by what she saw, and felt fear streaming through her entire body. The slightly decayed face of Leo Silva stared back at her, as he continued to walk towards her, blood trickling from a visible gunshot wound to his forehead. Still frozen from fear, she watched him slowly pull a pistol out from a holster, and press it against her own forehead. In the distance, Jenny watched a series of aircraft crash into the ground, sending trees, dirt, and fire into the air, which was also being filled with the screams of the passengers. Leo, eyes still glowing red and looking right into Jenny's, placed his face closer to her's and then spoke in a raspy and decayed voice.

"Even the picturesque have ugly, dead sides." Leo hissed, before he pulled the trigger, and Jenny's vision went black, which was quickly filled with the sight a cackling and victorious looking Vexus.

Jenny awoke from her nightmare with a start, and began shouting hysterically. She began fighting the sensation of someone gripping her entire body hard, and didn't hear them speaking.

"Oh god, somebody help me, please! I've been shot, help me!" Jenny cried out in horror. She suddenly felt herself being gripped tighter still by a series of different arms, and was comforted by familiar robotic hums.

"Jenny, calm down! You're okay now sweetie, you're safe!" one of her Sisters spoke to her soothingly. Once Jenny processed the fact that she was no longer in any danger, she released all the tension in her body and allowed the multiple embraces from her sisters to comfort her. As she continued to sob from the experience and her sisters rocked her lightly, Mrs. Wakeman, accompanied by Leo and Sheldon, suddenly burst into the lab with a pale face of fright for her child.

"Jennifer! My lord, are you okay? I was preparing to transfer you over to your new body when I heard you screaming bloody murder." Mrs. Wakeman said shakily, as she gave Jenny a tight hug. After a few moments of gradually quieting sobs, Jenny eventually spoke.

"I was in a beautiful place, but I...didn't know how I got there. I got scared when I couldn't contact you, or anyone else. I cou-couldn't use GPS, it...it kept sa-saying tha-that I was in bed. Then a dirt path a-appeared and s-someone in a hoodie wa-walked up to me. His eyes glowed red, and I couldn't run. He pointed a gun to my...my forehead and spoke to me. I saw aircraft falling from the sky, and then he...he shu- shot me and it went black. Then I saw Vexus laughing." Jenny recanted her dream with dread. Everyone was silent for a moment before Leo quietly asked Jenny a question.

"What did this guy look like? What did he say?"

"I only remember the red glowing eyes, and that he had a gunshot wound to his forehead. I don't remember what he said..." Jenny lied, as she was worried what would occur if she mentioned that it was Leo himself that attacked her. When she mentioned the wound to his head, Leo's eyes shot open wide and his mouth opened slightly for a quick moment, but then he shut them and 'hmmed'.

"You shouldn't have been able to have nightmares, though! I specifically designed the dreamchip to lockout if the dream becomes too intense!" Mrs. Wakeman exclaimed in confusion. Sheldon scratched his chin for a moment before he spoke up himself.

"Either the Dreamchip has malfunctioned or...perhaps this nightmare wasn't caused by the dreamchip directly?" Sheldon insinuated.

"What, you mean it was introduced in another manner? Like a virus?" Leo asked curiously, now looking over at Sheldon, who nodded his head.

"Exactly. Jenny needs a new body because of that freak who nearly totaled her. If he managed to sneak a nanobot into her, whats to say he didn't plant a virus to mess with her mind as well?" Sheldon argued. Leo and Mrs. Wakeman nodded in agreement, and were about to list off possibilities for the viruses location, when Jenny quietly spoke up again.

"Where's Brad? Is he here?" Jenny asked, her broken eyes fruitlessly scanning the room. Taking pity, Leo spoke up.

"He is still sleeping. To be honest, I wish I was too. This hangover is not fun." Leo mentioned, rubbing his temples, while wearing a grimace. "Anyways, I'll wake him for you. Give me a few minutes." Leo offered, as he left the lab and began his ascent up the staircase. In the following silence, Jenny clung to her Mother's arm a little tighter, and rested her head against her Mother's shoulder.

"I never...want to have that dream again. It felt all so real, almost like a memory.." Jenny spoke to Mrs. Wakeman quietly. Sheldon looked at her curiously for a moment, before he spoke.

"Maybe...maybe it was a memory?" Sheldon had begun. Just as Jenny began to protest to the theory, Sheldon stopped her in mid-sentence. "Hear me out, okay? Assuming the Dream chip is working correctly, how else could a nightmare occur? If we use humans as a reference, which everyone is no doubt aware that your Mom definitely did while creating you, we can also see that sometimes our minds wander off into the past while we sleep, and replays previous events." Sheldon had begun to explain, while pacing back and forth. He was about to continue on his line of thought, but Mrs. Wakeman had raised his hand to stop him.

"Its a good theory, but there is a problem with that. I never designed her to recall memories in her sleep. I never even thought of it, to be honest." Mrs. Wakeman said in a manner which caused Jenny to wonder what else her Mother 'forgot' to add. Sheldon stood there looking defeated, unable to come up with an explanation. "Perhaps it is a corrupted memory." Mrs. Wakeman suddenly spoke, looking at Sheldon.

"I think I know what you are getting at. Thats not a good sign then, if thats true. It'd have to be extremely damaged if the memory was accidentally executed by the data defragmentation program." Sheldon said while looking at Jenny, his frow furrowed with worry. "And if thats the case...what else is damaged?"

"Please don't say that, it makes me feel like I'm terminally ill." Jenny complained in a disgruntled manner. As Sheldon fearfully began to wonder if Jenny had become more frightened due to him, Leo and a hungover Brad suddenly burst through the lab door.

"Jen! Are you alright? Leo told me you had a terrible nightmare." Brad was saying frantically as he and Jenny shared a tight hug. He looked at her in a concerned manner as she spoke.

"I'm fine, Brad, really." Jenny spoke, her actions betraying her words, as she grabbed him in another hug. As he returned the hug, Brad scoffed at her

"You'd be alot more convincing if you and your voice weren't shaking slightly." Brad spoke smugly. His entire manner returned to being concerned quickly, and he resumed speaking. "Seriously Jen, you've been worrying me lately. You've never been this afflicted by anything before, whats going on?"

"I...don't know. I don't know, and thats what scares me the most. But... I think this is simply caused by my hardware beginning to fail, so i guess we have nothing to worry about." Jenny mumbled into his shoulder. A little 'ding!' could be heard coming from the other room, causing Mrs. Wakeman to jump up and proceed to shoo the three boys out.

"Time for you all to head back to bed! You have a few hours yet until eight AM! Get rid of those hangovers and dream of dancing gum drops!" Mrs. Wakeman ranted to the three suddenly confused boys, prompting all 9 of the robotic girls to begin giggling. As she turned around, she looked at a now nervous Jenny.

"Is it...time? Time for the transfer?" Jenny asked nervously. Her mother nodded at her, and Jenny proceeded to lie down and enter sleep mode. Mrs. Wakeman then turned to the other XJs.

"You're all welcome to return to your charging stations if you wish. But XJ-8, if you wouldn't mind, I could use your help?" Mrs. Wakeman asked of her second 'oldest' daughter.

"I am willing to comply with your request, Mother." XJ-8 spoke with her usual static reverb as the rest of the girls left for the basement. After being asked to push the table with Jenny into the room to the right, XJ-8 turned to her Mother. "Anything else, Mother?"

"No, XJ-8, that will be all. Thank you." Mrs. Wakeman said quietly. As XJ-8 excused herself, Mrs. Wakeman began to hook Jenny up to the transfer computer. _'I hope I finish soon, I wouldn't mind some sleep before tomorrow.'_


	17. 17  Mark II

**Author's Note: Sorry about the delay in getting this next chapter up! And as well, here is to hoping that Rapture does NOT start tomorrow!**

* * *

SCHEDUALED BOOT: 7:00 AM.

WARNING!: BOOT BASED ON OLD CLOCK DATA!

NEW HARDWARE DETECTED, SCANNING...

...

...

NEW SYSTEM DETECTED, UPDATING TO REFLECT CHANGES...

...

DONE, CONTINUING BOOT PROCESS.

SCANNING FOR OLD iOS...FOUND 'iOS_XJ9', OVERWRITING...DEFAULT iOS IS NOW 'iOS_XJ9_MKII'. LOGGING UPDATE TO FILE...DONE, CONTINUING BOOT PROCESS.

LOAD !iOS_XJ9_MKII; ...OLD CONFIGURATION FILE FOUND, UPDATING...OLD CPU OPTION SET TO x2048 MODE, UPDATING TO x3072...DONE, CONTINUING BOOT PROCESS.

APPROPRIATE DRIVERS INSTALLED FOR NEW SYSTEM HARDWARE, SYSTEM IS READY TO FLUSH OLD DATA...

LOGS FLUSHED...

OLD DRIVERS FLUSHED...

OLD CLOCK/CALANDER DATA FLUSHED...

OLD SOFTWARE FLUSHED.

SYSTEM EXITING BOOT PROCESS...

As an internal alarm clock went off inside Jenny, she curled up her bed and cocooned herself in her blankets. "Mmm...I dun wanna wake up..." she mumbled to no one. As the alarm continued to pester her, she finally broke with an irritated sigh and threw her blankets off. Opening her eyes, she was greeted with a short optics diagnostics message, which quickly changed to the familiar error message. Grumbling, she began reaching for her wheelchair, which was further away from her bed than normal. Straining for it, she let out a surprised 'oh!' and fell onto her front, making a thud that resonated through the floor. As she lay there, she felt a couple of warms mounds on her chest being slightly squished. "God, MORE water balloons?" Jenny said loudly, incensed at Brad and Tucker's attempt to get her sopping wet again. Her frown quickly turned into an evil smile, however, as she planned a way to use the failed prank against them. As she climbed into her wheelchair and zipped into her bathroom, she noticed her HUD suddenly loading. "Wow, why are all my info displays coming up now? I thought Mom shut them off." As she stayed still in her bathroom and 'watched' with curiosity, an internal calendar popped up, making her jump. "Time and date? Actually, what day IS it?" Jenny asked herself. Frustrated that she couldn't recall the date and time, Jenny growled as the clock and calendar annoyed her again. "WELL, if I could SEE, I could che-" Jenny had begun, stopping in mid-sentence once she noticed an interesting icon spinning in the top-right hand corner of her HUD. "Whats that say...? Optics...optics...what?" Jenny strained as she tried to read the spinning text. "Optics reconfiguring? What good- AHH!" Jenny had shouted, being startled by the sensation of hardware in her head physically tweaking her eyes. She scrunched her eyes closed and placed her hands to the sides of her head, being startled again by the feeling of warm flesh. "What the hell is going on here! Would you sto-!" Jenny had begun to yell, before her optics came online and she saw a digital calendar on her bathroom counter. After shouting for joy (and setting her clock system), Jenny suddenly got up from her chair and started dancing around. "I CAN STAND! I can stand! Oh, this really is Christmas! Now, about these water balloons..." Jenny said with a sinister grin, and a tone to match. As Jenny tugged on the collar of the nightgown she was wearing and looked down, she let escape a loud gasp and recoiled against the far wall of the bathroom, slightly knocking the mirror around. "N-nuh-not water balloons." Jenny managed to mumble to herself. Cautiously gripping the collar of her nightgown again, she slowly pulled it outward, scared of what she might find.

Brad was in the kitchen, making a strange concoction to combat his hangover through the guidance of Leo ('Put some raw eggs into the blender, fast. Quicker its done, the sooner we're happy..'). Mrs. Wakeman walked in, took one look at the boys, and laughed.

"Thats what you get for drinking too much, boys. Should have listened when I suggested you stop." Mrs. Wakeman lectured.

"Yes, Mrs. Wakeman." the pair of them grumbled in a monotone. A few seconds later, as Brad finished the drink and lifted it above his head, and began shouting 'eureka!', a sudden female screech from upstairs caused Brad to drop the containers, smashing it onto the floor. Both boys shouted in horror, and fruitlessly began trying to drink it from the ground, much to the humor of Mrs. Wakeman.

"What was that, anyways?" Leo asked to no one in particular. Brad shrugged his shoulders, and the duo looked at a mischievous Mrs. Wakeman.

"That would probably be XJ-9 discovering her new...assets." Mrs. Wakeman explained with a smirk. Brad and Leo looked up from the spill and stared at each other. Brad scrambled out of the kitchen at a speed that shocked both Mrs. Wakeman and Leo. Leo quickly ran out after Brad, asking him to slow down. Mrs. Wakeman simply sighed, and began munching on toast. "Oh, the minds of young boys are amusing."

As the group of boys (they were now accompanied by both Tucker and Sheldon) approached the door to Jenny's room, all four of them were hesitant to grab and turn the handle, let alone knock.

"Look, I think we should let Sheldon open it. Out of all of us, he is more likely to survive an attack." Tucker suggested, Leo and Brad both nervously nodding vigorously. Blanching, Sheldon procrastinated fearfully.

"No, no! Don't make me open it! What if she isn't wearing anything when I open it? How would I survive THAT pummeling?" Sheldon said in a high pitched voice, envisioning his death in his mind. As the other three boys bickered while Sheldon whimpered on the floor, XJ-4 casually wheeled up to the door and opened it herself.

"Rise and shine, Jenny! Its Christmas day, and I want to get a head start on your room, which YOU should be cleaning." XJ-4 shouted into the room as she began vacuuming, dusting, and picking up oil cans all at once. As the boys all slowly peeked around the bedroom door into her room, a muffled reply came from her bathroom, causing them to shoot back to the other side out of mortal fear.

"What was that, hun? I didn't quite hear what you said. My audio receptors are terrible when this vacuum is running." XJ-4 shouted aloud again.

"I said 'gimme a sec, I'm getting some proper clothes on'." Jenny shouted back from the bathroom. Raising an eyebrow and shutting off the vacuum, XJ-4 replied.

"Why are you changing? Don't you wear the same old acid washed sheet metal like the rest of us?" XJ-4 asked curiously. She suddenly opened her eyes wide, however, as she figured out why. "Oh gosh! Your new body, I forgot completely! Come out, let us see!" XJ-4 begged like a giddy elementary school girl. Another muffled question came from the door, to which the boys waited for XJ-4 to request a repeat. When XJ-6 suddenly spoke from behind them, the fright sent them tumbling into Jenny's room in a pile.

"Yeah, 'us'! You've got a whole gaggle of curious boys out here, too!" She shouted jealously. As XJ-6 mumbled about how no boys try to catch a glimpse of her, the rest of the XJs entered the room, walking by the tangled pile of boys who made no effort to escape it as they were still in shock. Tut-tuting at the sight as she entered the room, Mrs. Wakeman bent down to the pile of boys and picked them up, one by one.

"What good are you all at sneaking around if you let someone scare you from behind?" Mrs. Wakeman asked seriously. The boys only really came back to their senses when the door to the bathroom suddenly opened to reveal an extremely beautiful girl looking at them with deep blue eyes and pale-blue skin, which prompted a collective intake of air among the group from everyone, except for Sheldon, Mrs. Wakeman, and Brad who simply said 'Oh god, I was right about the rack!'.

"Introducing XJ-9 Mk. II! Twice as fast, twice as deadly, twice as beautiful!" Mrs. Wakeman shouted to the others excitedly. As an awkward silence grew and Sheldon fell over like a cardboard stand-up, Leo kept opening his mouth to say something, but promptly closed due to being unsure how to approach the subject he wanted to bring up. The action wasn't lost on Mrs. Wakeman, however. "Is there an issue, Mr. Silva?" she said in a deflated and annoyed tone. Unable to come up with a tactful way to bring up what was on his mind, Leo simply plopped the gist of what he was worried about.

"'Gynoid'. She MAY be slammed with the social definition of what a 'Gynoid' is. Based on the true definition, she always WAS one, but...I shouldn't have to say how this is going to lay out." Leo said in a very concerned tone, looking down at the floor sadly. An unknown understanding seemed to be between Leo and Mrs. Wakeman, as she walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I've taken the appropriate measures to ensure she is protected. Don't you worry about that." Mrs. Wakeman told him, while confusing him, Jenny, the rest of the XJs, and the other boys.

"But Mom, I'M supposed to be the one protecting people. If someone is stronger than me and helps people, why don't they do what I do?" Jenny asked her mother, one of her eyes cocked.

"Nobody said anything about him being stronger. You'll find he is very influential, and I feel he will be able to control your classmates without much trouble." Mrs. Wakeman explained. Leo did a double-take when he noticed Mrs. Wakeman looking directly at him, and it didn't take long before everyone else looked at him curiously.

"W-what the hell do you expect me to do? Its not like I can pay everyone off to leave her alone, and I cant stop her from being bullied unless I'm-" Leo had begun to rant, before coming to a stop mid-sentence and opened his eyes wide in disbelief. "No way! You enrolled me into school, didn't you?" Leo shouted, grabbing the sides if his face in utter disbelief. Mrs. Wakeman simply smiled evily and nodded, prompting Leo to shout emphatically. "My god, you could have used that condition for anything, and you use it to force me to go to school? This'll be pure hell!"

"School isn't actually all THAT bad, you know. Its actually quite fun...if you have some real friends, that is." Jenny explained, shoot Brad a friendly glance. Once he was hit with the gaze she gave him, Brad began a long sentance of quiet gibberish. It took a hard, swift kick into his shin from Tucker to bring him back to his earth.

"Err-Jen is right, Leo. School _CAN_ be fun, but...you just have to work on it is all." Brad said in agreement, unable to take his eyes off Jenny, making her blush. Tucker grumbled and looked at the watch he was watching.

"Can we stop ogling at Jenny's body and eat some breakfast? I'm hungry!" He complained, causing Jenny to nod in agreement happily.

"Yeah, i can smell the bacon cooking, and its making my mouth water!" Jenny said excitedly. As the silence grew, everyone but Mrs. Wakeman and Leo gave Jenny an odd look, followed by an extremely confused look growing on Jenny's face. "I can smell bacon and it makes MY mouth WATER? What the hell?" Jenny spoke quietly, as Leo positively beamed. Glancing over at Mrs. Wakeman, she nodded at him.

"I told you it would work, Mr. Silva. I went over the schematics myself prior to installing it. I was able to slim it down to install more hardware, and fixed a possible mechanically induceable hang, past that, however, it worked properly in simulations." Mrs. Wakeman said in an inside conversation with Leo, prompting everyone else to become annoyed about not being included.

"You told him WHAT would work? Honestly, I'm always left out of interesting conversations." XJ-6 complained loudly. While everyone was waiting for an answer, Sheldon spoke from the floor (suprising everyone, as they forgot he was there) and explained.

"The Silva Wakeman Organic to Kinetic energy converter, or WOK. It takes Organic materials, and converts them into usable energy." Sheldon spoke intelligently, as he rose from the floor into a standing position. "Basically? She can eat what we eat, drink what we drink, and NOT clog up her internal systems like how her Mark 1 body did." Sheldon finished, eyes glistening as he stared at Jenny, making her uncomfortable. Wanting to get his attention off her, Jenny quickly thought up an excuse.

"Well, uhh, lets go and, uhh...test! Yes, lets test this...WOK! Onwards to science!" Jenny shouted awkwardly while dashing out her door, her sisters following closely behind.

"...Onwards to science? Since when has XJ-9 been interested in science?" Mrs. Wakeman asked in a confused tone, looking completely abashed. Leo and Brad simply looked at eachother and shrugged, following Mrs. Wakeman out of Jenny's room, leaving an again-depressed Sheldon to keep company with a knowing Tucker.

"Aww, don't worry Sheldon. I'm sure if you do something cool sometime, she'll come around." Tucker said in an upbeat manner, walking out of the room himself. Sheldon pondered this information, contemplating how to go about using it. Giving up and deciding to think about it later, Sheldon got up and made his way towards the kitchen, rubbing his pounding temples.

As everyone ate an amazing Christmas breakfast, Jenny couldn't help but commentate on the wonders of taste, as well as what the food she was eating tasted like.

"This Jonnycake is...sweet! Its even better with Maple Syrup!" Jenny said estatically, inbetween mouthfulls. Unable to contain herself, she picked up a whole loaf of Jonnycake and forced it into her mouth. After the intense effort she had to put forth to swallow the food in her mouth, she looked around at the grossed out looks everyone around the table was giving her, prompting her to blush intensely.

"Hey uhh, Jen? Maybe you should pace yourself? Maybe the WOK should be slowly brought up to Food Eating Contest levels slowly?" Brad suggested, partially joking. Jenny shot him a dark look for the jab, but shook her head in agreement regardless.

"Yeah, sure, maybe you're right. I just have this mysterious urge to inhale all this food!" Jenny whined. Mrs. Wakeman leaned back at this, and then looked over at Sheldon curiously.

"What did you set the appetite ratio to?" she asked him. Glancing upwards and biting his lip, Sheldon seemed unsure how to answer the question, and pulled up a digital clipboard from a watch he was wearing.

"Uhm...a_ratio, a_ratio...oh, there it is. I sorta ballparked it and set it at six point eight. You didn't leave me any documentation on how the WOK interpreted the values, so I looked at the other values and sort of...guessed." Sheldon replied nervously, shrinking in his chair slightly. Mrs. Wakeman crossed her arms and nodded to herself, and then turned her gaze to Jenny.

"Sheldon has accidentally given you the appetite level of almost 7 adult males. This explains why you have the urge to, as you put it, 'inhale all the food'."

"Wait, so Jen is a glutton now?" Brad asked stupidly, before he thought about his words. Realising his goof when Jenny gave him a malicious glare, Brad jumped up and started waving his arms around in fear. "N-no! I d-didn't mean it l-like that!"

"I wouldn't worry, Brad. She can't take you out." Leo suddenly said aloud, quietly enjoying his breakfast while reading the december edition of the 'Popular Mechanics' magazine.

"What, you think I couldn't take Brad? Please!" Jenny said obnoxiously. Smirking slightly, Leo placed his magazine on the table and looked across at Jenny. He rolled up his sleeve past his elbow, and placed it so that his hand was about at the mid-point of the table.

"Arm-wrestle me. I'm probably not much stronger than Brad right now, I haven't been working out." Leo said in a manner which intrigued Jenny. Rolling up her own sleeve, she gripped Leo's hand and shared his smirk, eagerly awaiting the moment in which she bursted his bubble. "3...2...1..." Leo counted them down. Jenny put part of her strength into the arm wrestle, but was shocked to see that Leo's hand didn't budge. Annoyed, she then threw all her strength into her arm that she could muster, and started to move Leo's hand towards the table. Smiling wide, she looked at Leo, who was calm and smiling plesantly. As soon as she looked up, however, she felt a tremendous resistance come from Leo as he had finally raised the amount of effort he was putting into the skirmish.

"Wha..what the..hell?" Jenny said inbetween grunts, as her hand steadily raised back up, and then finally slammed onto her side the table. Shocked, she raised her hand and stared at it wide-eyed.

"Your combat and super-human level strength systems are offline. They still have some kinks left to work out, so you're still not able to go out and fight bad guys. Or kick Brad's rear." Leo explained softly. "Don't worry, we'll get you running 100% soon. But for now, you only have the strength of a teenage girl."

"I'm...you guys realise how risky that is? If I go walking around in public and someone wants revenge on me, I'm just a chance to injure people around me." Jenny said nervously. Brad turned and placed his hand on Jenny's shoulder, and opened his mouth to say something, but whatever it was seemed to stop in his throat. Jenny looked at Brad to see him staring at her shoulder. Seeing that he still didn't notice her looking at him, Jenny let out a loud cough.

"Oh! Sorry, Jen, I uhh...I'm still getting used to you having skin. Its warm even, so I...yeah, anyways." Brad stumbeled about with his words, causing Jenny to smile. Finally remembering what he was going to say, Brad snapped his fingers. "Right! I was going to say that I'm sure everything will be fine. I doubt your Mom would let you wander around if the wait wasn't minimal, or if the threat wasn't taken care of."

"Well said, Mr. Carbunkle. Yes, I've taken the liberty of calling in a few favours owed to me by Skyway Patrol's Shock Squad. They'll be patrolling the city, and in the event of an attack they have a pre-emptive go command, so no waiting for silly paperwork." Mrs. Wakeman said happily, as she sipped some hot tea. The group's conversation eventually drifted, and quickly landed on the day's important subject: Christmas gifts.

"Oh man, I can't wait to see what Old Saint Nick brought me this year! I was hoping he could have got me that new XCone 240, but it's released yet so I don't expect to see it." Brad said in an upbeat tone. Noticing that Leo was smiling in an almost evil manner, Brad spoke again. "Whats that look for, Leo?" he asked in a confused tone. Startled, Leo explained himself.

"Sorry, I just found what you said to be...funny, I guess. Atleast you're not broken up about it, right? Anyways, I wouldn't mind a new Hyper Spanner for my tool collection. Mine's worn right down, makes it hard to fix things.." Leo fantasized about a new tool set. Jumping in on the silence, Sheldon thought about his gifts aloud himself.

"Personally, I wouldn't mind some new computer hardware. I could work more efficiently if I got my hands on some new hard drives or RAM. Those old 1 petabyte drives don't really hold much these days, and my QDR7 RAM is a little slow." Sheldon explained. Narrowing her eyes slightly, Jenny glared at Sheldon.

"I'M running on 8 sticks of 2 Petabyte QDR7 RAM. Am I SLOW, Sheldon?" Jenny asked venomously, masking her sneaky attempt at simply making him panic again. Suprising everyone at the table, especially Jenny, Sheldon actually had a valid counter.

"That depends on the brand and rating. I've got really junky, cheap stuff. The type you are running is top of the line; the best you can get. Naturally, created by your Mother, so it's actually unique, making it simply that much better than anything on the market today." Sheldon explained without skipping a beat. Taking a drink of his hot chocolate, he choked slightly and became nervous when he noticed everyone staring at him. "*HACK!*...What? Did I still say something wrong?"

"Uhh...no. Just not how any of us expected you'd react. You usually backpedal like an Olympian whenever Jenny pulls something like that." Leo said honestly. Sheldon's expression changed to a disgrunteled look and he began grumbling.

The conversation about Christmas gifts continued for the next half hour as everyone ate (or drank oil), and once everyone was finished they proceeded into the living room, and everyone took turns opening gifts. Once all the gifts were open, and everyone was excited about their gifts ("Yes! A new Hyper Spanner and bit set!"), Brad suddenly grew a confused look on his face, and began looking behind the tree. Confused about his Brother's behaviour, Tucker walked over to him.

"What are you doing, Brad? Everything is opened already. Lets go hang out with Jenny and the others by the TV." Tucker suggested. Brad stopped, and began rubbing his chin. His eyes widening, he snapped his fingers and walked towards the TV, prompting Tucker to roll his eyes and shrug. As Brad approached the couch where Leo was sitting, Leo looked at him and then hastily hid a smirk behind his hand.

"So you figured it out then?" Leo asked, vaugly, prompting everyone else in the living room to look at the two boys with confusion. Leo got up from the couch and removed his hand to reveal a sneaky smile behind it, nodding to Mrs. Wakeman, who nodded in return.

"You hid your gifts to the rest of us, then? A treasure hunt?" Brad asked smugly. Leo nodded silently, still smiling. Everyone but Mrs. Wakeman jumped up excitedly at the prospect of more presents, startling her and Leo slightly.

"Calm down, calm down! We'll begin the hunt in a moment, but I want to establish an order in which to-" Mrs. Wakeman had begun, before they heard Tucker shout down from his and Brad's bedroom.

"FOUND MINE! BRAD, YOUR GIFT IS HERE AS WELL!" Tucker shouted feverishly from the staircase. It only took a minute for everyone in the livingroom to register the odd's of their gifts being in similar places before they bolted in every which direction. Mrs. Wakeman placed her palm to her hand and shook her head, while Leo simply slumped, having realised his Brain child of the morning's entertainment just got destroyed. As everyone eventually returned (with Brad demanding to know how Leo got a hold of an XCone 240 before it's schedualed release), the living room was buzzing with excitement over the amazing gifts Leo had grabbed everyone on short notice. However, it only took a moment for everyone to realise the star of the day hadn't returned.

"Mother, where is Jenny? I didn't see her exit her room." XJ-4 asked innocently. Before she could answer, the group heard a prolonged shout from up above start out faint and quickly grow in volume, before they saw Jenny plop onto the snow right outside the living room window.

"XJ-9 has to put her new 'Free Running' systems through their paces to get her gift from Leo, which is sitting on the roof of this house." Mrs. Wakeman explained to everyone as they rushed outside to the front of the house. Jenny was collecting herself from the ground and brushing the snow off her pyjamas. When she saw Leo and her mother exit last, she glared at them and began complaining.

"This is just cruel! I have to work for my gift, and no one else did! That's just unfair! Not to mention, it's cold out!" Jenny complained loudly, while holding a clue to her gift in her hand. Mrs. Wakeman simply raised her hand and silenced Jenny.

"XJ-9, this is a test of your Parkour systems. I've gone ahead and given you the ability beforehand, as sometimes, your rocket boosters won't be the ideal method of travel during combat scenarios." Mrs. Wakeman explained to her. As soon as Jenny began complaining to her mother about how the climb was impossible, Leo's interest perked up instantly. Brad noticed Leo glancing up and down the length of the side of the house, and walked over to him.

"What are you thinking? Is Jen right?" Brad asked curiously. Turning and placing a hand on one of Brad's shoulders, Leo smiled and spoke.

"We'll see, won't we?" was all that Leo said, just before dashing towards the wall. When he came to the wall, he did a short running climb before grabbing the top of a window sill. Glancing around himself, Leo noticed a series of small ledges sticking out from the wall, and proceeded to scale the wall of the house. In shock, Brad started nudging Jenny, who was still busy bickering with her mother. After brushing Brad off a few times, Jenny finally got annoyed enough to turn to him.

"What? What do you want, Brad?" Jenny asked hotly. Brad simply pointed at Leo, who had scaled about halfway up the house. Taking a moment to compute what she was seeing, Jenny suddenly became fearful. "Leo, what the hell are you doing? You'll fall and get hurt!"

"Chill out, I've got this under control." Leo shouted back down to the ground. Stopping for a moment and look back, he saw via Jenny's expression that she was doing anything but 'chilling out'. "Okay, where do you think your Free Running ability data came from? I've had sensors strapped to me a while back and did some free running when your Mom asked. So I know what I'm doing, alright?" Leo said in a manner that managed to calm Jenny down slightly.

"Ugh, be careful then...I don't want to have XJ-4 clean you up from the ground." Jenny said with an annoyed tone. Leo turned back to the wall and continued his climb. Making short work of the remaining wall, he eventually reached the eavestrough. Quickly deciding on his course of action, Leo lept backwards from the wall and quickly snatched the edge of the roof. As he began to pull himself up, Jenny, along with everyone else on the ground, began clapping his right hand suddenly lost it'd grip, and Leo found himself dangling from the roof, having been stopped by his left hand gripping the edge tightly.

"Eheh, theres a bit of ice up here.." Leo explained weakly as Jenny absolutely fumed on the ground. Leo quickly hoisted himself up again, being careful to avoid the ice this time, and then sat on the edge of the house. "Come on up! It's a nice view." Leo enticed Jenny. She bit her bottom lip, and then proceeded to climb up the wall herself.


	18. 18  Cloud Conundrum

**A/N: Hey guys! Sorry about the huge delay in getting the next chapter done. I haven't been forgetting to do it, I just haven't had time. In-between work, planning out my move from my parents, and playing Terraria, it doesn't leave much time. Yeah, I know, last one isn't a very good excuse (unless you've played it), but all the same, I hope you enjoy this chapter. I'll try to devote some time to progress the storyline and decide how certain future events in it will pan out, so don't worry! I've got it all under control...I hope.**

* * *

"I can't wait to go back to school! Mrs. Slivenson promised to bring in the puppy she bought for her daughter and let us play with it. It'll be great!" Tucker shouted excitedly while his brother, Brad, simply grumbled about returning to school. It didn't help matters that Jenny wasn't walking with him today, either. Mrs. Wakeman seemed adamant that Jenny miss the first week of school, to give her more time to 'get used to her new abilities'. She actually surprised both Sheldon and Leo, who both privately told Brad that they were confused as to why she was being kept secret for an extra week, both of them feeling she was quite ready to reintegrate. Brad also lost out on a chance to get to know Leo some more, as Mrs. Wakeman had to finalize his entry into the school and assist him in fetching school supplies. Sheldon also wasn't going to around to talk to, as he usually met up with Brad and Jenny at the front of the school. Thinking for a moment, Brad realized this was the first time he had to endure the walk to school with only his brother for company since he first met Jenny.

"Hey, Brad? Where are you going? My school is this way." Tucker asked Brad, while he was pointing down a road on his left. Glancing around, Brad was suddenly aware he was in the middle of an intersection crosswalk. Brad Chuckled in an embarrassed manner and rubbed the back of his neck while he walked back to Tucker.

"Sorry, Tuck. I've got my head in the clouds today." Brad spoke in an upbeat tone, prompting Tucker to snicker a little. "What was that little laugh for?" Brad asked, annoyed and a little curious.

"Oh please, you haven't been able to take your eyes off Jenny the whole end of the holidays! And don't lie about it, either! Everyone can see it, too! Jenny definitely noticed when-" Tucker began to exclaim loudly in an effort to embarrass Brad, before Brad promptly bopped him on the head.

"I STARE, because I CARE. I'm worried about her, mostly because Mrs. Wakeman, Leo, and Sheldon keep complaining about bugs and errors." Brad explained to a dizzy Tucker. Once Tucker gained proper control of his body, Brad continued. "So I simply kept my eye on her, so I could cry foul in-case she needed help."

"Alright, alright. Just don't hit me again, or I'll be late." Tucker complained loudly. The duo walked up the path to Tucker's school in silence, with Tucker's head still throbbing. Brad started playing with his cell phone, which quickly ran out of power, much to his annoyance. Once Tucker had gotten inside and began complaining about how the puppy wouldn't leave him alone, Brad set off in the direction of Tremorton High. Shortly after he began his trip, he was quickly stopped by a stranger's shouting from behind him.

"Hey, excuse me! Excuse me, could you direct me to Tremorton High?" Brad heard a boy's voice coming from the stranger. Turning around, Brad saw a boy with very white skin, pale green hair, and a head shaped similarly to that of a football. The boy was sporting track pants and a hoodie with the hood pulled over his head, and was carrying a book-bag similar to Brad's. Once the boy approached him, he asked his question again, slightly out of breath from catching up to Brad. "I'm sorry to bother you, but can you tell me where Tremorton High is?" The boy said between huffs, but didn't get an answer from Brad. Before he spoke up again, he became a little annoyed. "Hello? I don't have very long, do you know or not?"

"Oh! I'm sorry! I don't often see people who...look like you do. I've only ever seen one other person, except she was-" Brad had begun, before the strange boy cut in an finished his sentence for him.

"A pinky purple, right? And wore clothes fitting of a Ninja?" The boy said smugly, surprising Brad.

"Uhm..yeah, actually, she did. Do you know her or something?" Brad asked, still bewildered by the strange boy.

"Know her? Dude, I trained with her. Actually, I'm trying to find her. She took off from our home world for here when she found out that Global Defense Unit XJ-9 nearly got killed. She is looking for someone that was seen in the broadcast." the boy said proudly. Brad simply nodded and smiled for a moment, before what he was just told really hit him.

"WHAT? Misty is here? On Earth? Oh no, I've gotta get to school to tell Jenny!" Brad shouted aloud to no one in particular while peeling off towards Tremorton High, startling the boy who struggled to catch up.

"Hey, guy, wait up! Why is Misty being here such a problem? Heeey!" he shouted after Brad, just managing to keep up with the manic pace that Brad was holding.

Sheldon was just arriving at the School entrance, as he saw Brad further down the sidewalk.

* * *

"Wow, he sure is here earlier that usual. I wonder why he came so early?" Sheldon asked himself. Squinting slightly to get a better look, he suddenly went wide-eyed when he noticed the speed at which Brad was sprinting down the sidewalk. As soon as Brad noticed Sheldon at the door, he stopped for a moment to make a series of weird actions and sound effects, before he burst into the school, confusing and scaring a few of the students just inside the entrance. Sheldon's interest switched back to the outside, however, when he heard a boy gasping and wheezing come towards the school.

"Why...is...he...so worried...about...Misty?" The boy asked Sheldon, as he witnessed the exchange between him and Brad. When Sheldon heard the name Misty, he suddenly grew anxious himself.

"Misty what? What about Misty?"

"She came to earth. Seriously, why is everyone so uptig-" The boy began before Sheldon shouted, and ran inside the building after Brad. "Wha...? For crying out loud, won't someone explain whats going on!" The boy shouted, as he ran behind a mercifully slower Sheldon, who began explaining.

"Jenny, who you may know as XJ-9, and Misty used to be good friends until Jenny learned that Misty was a Hero-For-Hire. As soon as she found out, they had a huge fight, where Jenny was nearly killed because she didn't keep herself trained up." Sheldon shouted to the boy behind him. The boy simply laughed when he heard Sheldon explain the situation, which caused Sheldon to slow. "What's so funny about Jenny being in danger?" Sheldon asked him hotly.

"Wow, calm down dude! Misty isn't even here for XJ-9. I asked her about it before she left. She said, and I quote, 'I couldn't care less about that robotic amateur. She isn't my concern.'" The boy said in a calm manner. Confused, Sheldon began to probe him for more information, but was cut off by the boy. "Look, she is here looking for someone she saw in the newscast. I'm not exactly sure who it is, either, but I have a hunch.." the boy explained in a troubled tone to Sheldon. In the awkward silence that followed, as many people began staring at the strange duo, Sheldon spoke up.

"Uhm...okay. Anyways, my name is Sheldon. The other guy's name is Brad." Sheldon introduced himself and the absent Brad to the boy, while offering his hand up for a shake. The boy simple bowed and responded.

"You may call me Brume. I apologize on Misty's behalf and for myself for the confusion and terror prompted by our visit, but I have to find her before she finds this person in the broadcast." Brume explained in a formal manner. A couple of girls glanced at him and giggled as they walked by and began talking to themselves, but Sheldon only managed to snag a bit of their conversation.

"...cute for an alien, but Leo still takes the cake, maybe the same as..." The girl said to her friend, prompting Sheldon to harrumph in-front of Brume.

"Huh? Did those girls say something inappropriate, Sheldon?" Brume asked in a concerned tone, Sheldon crossed his arms and sighed, shaking his head.

"No, it's just...it's always 'Leo' this and 'Leo' that. Seriously, its like the guy exhales and all the girls in town swoon." he complained. Brume's face suddenly grew a blank look. Concerned, Sheldon spoke up. "Uhm, whats wrong, Brume?"

"Oh, sorry, its nothing, Misty is bothering me telepathically. Anyways, you and Brad attend this school, I presume?" Brume said pleasantly, causing Sheldon to raise a eyebrow.

"This is the only High School in town. ALL the teenagers in Tremorton attend Tremorton High, there isn't anywhere else to go. Mind you, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else unless my Jenny was there.." Sheldon explained happily, melting at the mental image of the newly improved Jenny he kept with himself.

"Oh, uhm...right..well then, I'll be seeing you and Brad sometime. I'm now enrolled here myself. I've got to leave for now, Misty is summoning me. I hope to see you soon, Sheldon!" The boy shouted as he dashed out of the school to join his training partner. As he stood there, still in his fantasy land, Sheldon finally remembered what had caused him to dash into the school in the first place.

"Ah! I have to let Brad and Jenny know about this!" Sheldon shouted loudly to himself as he ran up the hall, getting some snickers from his peers located near him.

* * *

"Took you long enough, dude. I was getting ready to grab some grub by myself." a young female voice echoed from a darkened door frame, which was tucked away in a grungy alleyway. Brume bowed to the darkened figure, and then replied.

"My apolgisies, I met some of my peers today and managed to send them into a panic...so I was trying to patch up my first impression as best I could." Brume replied in an embarrassed tone. Snickering slightly, Misty left the security of the shadowed doorway and walked towards Brume.

"Heh, so long as you didn't mention me, it should be fi-" she had begun to say, before an announcement from the newly installed 'Tremorton Threat Alert System' boomed across the town.

"Attention citizens! The anti-hero known as 'Misty' has been confirmed to be among us! If you see her, we caution against any form of interaction, and urge you to report sighting to the nearest Skyway Patrol Shock Trooper!" The announcer shouted nervously into the system. The duo in the alleyway were silent for a moment, causing Brume to sweat a bit. Misty simply frowned at him for a bit, and then sighed.

"You moron! How am I supposed to look for the target now? You KNOW he knows me by name, he'll have become incredibly vigilant now! Not to mention that amateur should be running around very soon here!" Misty shouted at Brume. Sensing a chance to cut in before she continued, Brume spoke up.

"Calm down! To quell any fears of me being followed, I ensured that I pressed on the fact that I had not a single clue as to your whereabouts other than you are in-town. Just as well, seeing that we have only one location that I can confirm the pompous ass will show himself." Brume explained himself with an air of superiority. Annoyed, Misty simply crossed her arms and began frowning again, and motioned for him to continue. Brume fiddled with his hoodie for a moment, and then continued. "Tremorton High. All the teenagers in town will show up, because its the ONLY High School in town. All we really have to do is watch for the gaggle of girls hanging off that jerk, and he'll be ours."

"...And you're so sure this'll work, how? I see a number of ways this can end badly for you." Misty retorted, smirking to herself about a piece of knowledge that Brume wasn't privvy to. Unsure of Misty's reaction, Brume frowned and crossed his arms himself.

"If you're afraid, you don't have to cover it up with excuses, you know. I'm more than willing to do this alone, you can sit it out." Brume spat nastily, attempting to return the anger Misty had caused him. Misty simply laughed, and leaned against the empty garbage dumpster next to her.

"Okay, hero. Just make sure you have enough blood left in you to crawl back to me when you're finished. I'll be at a chill place called Mezmers, it has a door that looks like a huge cat face." Misty replied coolly, continuing to rest against the dumpster as Brume flew off enraged.

* * *

The first day back to school was an incredibly bad one for Brad. First, he had been pestered by most of his classmates about why Jenny hadn't been there. Then, once everyone had finally come to the conclusion he really didn't know the answer, a burning hatred seemed to emmenate from everyone due to him not having a proper answer for them. Not surprisingly, the Krust Cousins made it worse for him, claiming he was simply being her friend to become more popular. He would have been fine after all of that, had the computer nerds not cornered him suddenly and demand a readout of Jenny's computer specifications. After being hauled down to the office and spending half an hour there being lectured on why silence is important to a school and that he should have shouting matches with the Heavens outside of the school, Brad was finally walking home. Walking slowly and sighing, Brad hadn't been paying attention where he was walking, and quickly found himself in an alley with a dead end. Cursing, he turned around to exit, where he found his path blocked by some thugs. They were all quite opposite from eachother, Brad noticed. One had rippling muscles all over, another was tall and lanky, and the last one was short and stubby, wearing a business suit and a fedora. As Brad's mind began to race with fright over the scene, the small thug approached him.

"Heya, kid! You're looking down, you wanna buy some happiness in a pill?" he asked. Brad didn't have a chance to reply before the beefy looking thug yelled out.

"Hey Boss! Thats one of the kids who is always around XJ-9!" the incredible bulk shouted stupidly. A disturbingly dark sneer grew over the face of the lanky one who stood next to the large one, and the one who was the Boss seemed to read his mind.

"Well, well, well...found yourself in a bit of a conundrum, haven't we? Your little robot friend owes me big time, for capturing me and sending me to prison a couple months ago. How do you feel about helping me repay that favor, hm?" The little man asked. Stepping back with a determined look on his face, Brad replied.

"No way! Jenny is my friend, I'll never help criminals!" he shouted at the trio defiantly. The big thug laughed stupidly, and spoke again.

"We don't remember asking you if you wanted to, The Boss only asked how you felt about it." the massive man explained, as he approached Brad. Just as the thug was about to let loose a fist against Brad's face, a dumpster flew seemingly out of nowhere and creamed the beast, causing both to slam into the building to Brad's left. Surprised, Brad glanced around in the direction from which the dumpster flew, and he saw a figure in the shadows. As Brad's savoir walked forward, he found their identity to be shocking.

"Kenny? What were you doing there?" Brad asked, wide mouthed and perplexed. Flashing a smile and tossing him a thumbs up, Kenny responded.

"Dude, I'll tell you the full story later, but Jen called me and asked me to look out for you." Kenny said in his usually happy and friendly tone. Turning his attention to Brad's antagonists, he bared his teeth and began growling ferociously. The small man began to laugh and clap as his strong arm woozily got up from behind the dumpster.

"Oooh, Boss, I ain't feelin' so good..." The large man complained as he held his side with one arm, and used the other to prop himself up on the wall. The tall lanky thug simply stood there, wearing the same dark sneer as before, while his Boss finished his laughter.

"Well, you win this round kid. But be careful where you go; this is a rough area, and your girlfriend is an enemy of many!" The short man lectured to Brad, ignoring Kenny completely. Once the trio had left in a large black van, Kenny rounded on Brad with a sharp look.

"Dude, I should have figured thats why Jenny asked me to guard you. You two are dating." Kenny concluded mostly to himself, causing Brad a mental blow strong enough to make him lose his balance for a moment.

"Nooo, no, no, no! You have it wrong, me and Jen are not dating! That dude was probably saying it either because he wanted to irritate me, or he might be mistaken." Brad explained to Kenny, who was still skeptical.

"Then why would she ask me to watch over you while she is out of commission?" he asked Brad, squinting his eyes. Brad sighed and placed a hand on his forehead.

"Thats just how Jenny is, she always worries about people. You should know that, as YOU went out with her already." Brad retorted. Unable to keep a straight face any longer, Kenny burst out laughing at Brad.

"Dude, calm down! I know that you two are not dating, because she'd be doting over you like crazy if you were. I know because you're right: I've already dated her." Kenny paused for a moment to look at Brad, who now wore a disgruntled expression. "Look, I wasn't searching for fodder to start an argument. I just wanted to have a little fun with you is all. Lets head over to Mezmers to grab some grub, I could use some oil."

* * *

Leo was sipping on a triple mocha cappuccino he had purchased at a local cyber cafe as he read some archived news from the previous year on the laptop he had rented. Having left Mrs. Wakeman after the two of them finished getting him school supplies, Leo was keen on learning more about who 'Misty' was. So far, he found that his research was getting him very little, which irked him to no end. Frustrated, Leo snapped the Laptop closed and wandered over to the counter to hand it over to the cashier.

"Find what you were looking for, kid?" The older gentleman manning the till asked Leo. Shaking his head, Leo replied.

"Naw, unfortunately. Not even a single picture showing her face. Just some blurred shots of her combat with her mask off, and the stationary ones shows her mask on." Leo answered in a dejected tone as he handed over a couple bills to pay for the rental. The man simply chuckled as he accepted the payment and got Leo his change. As Leo turned to leave, the man spoke up.

"You're the one who saved little Ms. Wakeman, right? If you're looking for a picture, she'd be the one to have it. Those two used to enjoy each others company." The man suggested. Leo thought for a moment, and then smiled.

"Thanks, I think I'll give that a try." he thanked the man, and then proceeded out of the building. As Leo finished up his cappuccino and binned the paper cup into a recycling container, he was startled by Brad's shouting coming from behind him.

"Hey Leo! Wait up!" Brad yelled up the street, as he began panting from running in his winter gear. Kenny quickly caught up with Brad, and the duo met up with Leo at a street corner. Leo glanced between Brad and Kenny, giving Kenny a questioning look.

"Dude wants to know if you wanted to get some grub over at Mezmers." Kenny explained to Leo while clasping a metallic hand on Brad's shoulder. "You gonna live dude..?" he asked Brad, who simply gave him a thumbs up. When Kenny looked back up to Leo, he slapped his forehead. "Oh, I forgot to introduce myself! My name is Kenneth Mogg, but it's Kenny to friends, so call me Kenny." he said and he smiled and extended his hand. Grasping his hand and shaking it, Leo introduced himself as well.

"Leonard Yves Silva, call me Leo." he replied to Kenny. The two stared at each other for a moment, almost in a battle of wits, daring the other to break visual contact. Kenny simply laughed, causing Leo to join him.

"I think we'll get along fine, Leo." Kenny said, smiling widely and crossing his arms. Leo returned the smile, and then looked at Brad, who had since regained his breath.

"So yeah, I'll join you two. But I get an inside part of the booth, I'm sick of having random girls attempt to sit next to me for the sake of bragging rights." Leo said, as he began walking in the direction of Mezmers. As the trio spoke, they went through the usual topics of girls, sports, cars, more sports, food, and more girls.

"I mean, don't get me wrong," Kenny spoke, "I LOVE robot girls, the feeling of their metal skin does wonders, but I don't mind a bit of organic skin. Couple'a months ago, I had this thing with one human chick, and man that was a blast." Kenny said, explaining his taste for women to the other two boys. Brad snickered as Leo covered his wide smile with his balled fist. Confused, Kenny spoke again. "What? What's so funny about a robot guy liking human chicks?"

"Nothing, its just- oh, you haven't seen Jenny yet, have you?" Leo asked. Kenny shook his head, which prompted Leo to glance at Brad as a way of letting him know to explain.

"Well, I don't think we should spoil it for him. He can see her himself, later." Brad said to Leo, his smirk growing wider. As the boys continued towards Mezmers, Kenny kept pestering them about Jenny, but they kept their mouths shut. Only after they picked out a booth to sit at did Kenny finally forget about Jenny, as he began looking through the different choices of oil left on the menu. As the boys figured out what they wanted to chow down on, Leo's pocket began pumping out some intense techno. Unfazed, he lazily whipped out the offending cell phone and answered it. He began speaking quietly on the phone as the other two flagged down a waitress, only to startle everyone near him with a sudden shout.

"What! She didn- Oh...okay, I see. A extra special surprise, you say? Sounds good, we're at Mezmers, want anything? Caesar Salad, okay. See you in 5." Leo finished calmly, snapping his phone closed.

"What was that about?" Brad asked bluntly, giving Leo a confused look after he spoke to the waitress. Leo rubbed his nose in embarrassment before replying.

"Oh, well, Sheldon was telling me that Jenny had some errors while testing out her new rocket systems. There are little door parts that are supposed to slide away from the exhaust port when her rocket feet are initialized, but when she tested them, they didn't move fast enough and instead turned to slag in Nanoseconds. When they finally DID move, much of her internal components got snarled up with molten metal. So her rocket feet are FUBAR currently." Leo explained calmly, horrifying both Brad and Kenny. Seeing the look on their faces, Leo quickly batted away their fears after he gave the waitress his order. "Sorry, I suppose I should explain: Her rocket feet are more like...rocket boots. When she slips them on, they interconnect with her legs and look similar to her old legs, and are made of metal. She can also take them off and return to looking like how me and Brad remember them."

"So, what DO they look like out of her boots?" Kenny asked after he ordered, in an attempt to make Leo leak the surprise. Not skipping a beat, Leo pounced on the attempt.

"They look like they normally do out of her boots. Thats how they look." Leo explained with a wink at Kenny, who simply grumbled at his failure to get information. After a few minutes of general chit-chat, Sheldon walked into Mezmers and sat himself at the end of the booth as everyone greeted him.

"So, are you going to explain to us what this surprise is that you told me about?" Leo asked Sheldon as they ate their food.

"Well, the only thing else I know more than you is that it was a gift Mrs. Wakeman gave to Jenny for her activation day anniversary." Sheldon explained, while he ate his salad. Kenny and Leo nodded while munching away themselves, but Brad threw down his sandwich and wore an annoyed expression as he got up from the booth.

"You could call it her birthday, you know. Ever wonder why she brushes you off, dude? You treat her too much like a piece of technology, like something without a heart. Maybe if you gave her some more respect, she'd treat you better herself." Brad spat at a shocked Sheldon. Noticing the surprised looks on his three friends, Brad simply got outright mad. "Don't give me those looks! You ALL know that all she wants is to be at least treated like she is human!" Brad shouted, as he stomped out of the restaurant. The three boys left at the booth simply gawked after him, along with a fair number of the other patrons. As Kenny got up to go after Brad, he was stopped by a girl's hand across his midsection.

"You should let him cool down, first. He's had it rough the past while." The girl said to Kenny, as she brought her hand back into her brown robe. Kenny was unable to see the girl's face from under her hood, but he nodded at her and heeded her words regardless. As a few minutes went by while Kenny and Sheldon simply played with their food, Leo simply stared at the doorway that Brad had left.

"How do Brad and Jenny see each other? Friends? Dating material?" he asked to no one in particular. Kenny simply shrugged, and Sheldon scratched the back of his neck, searching for an answer himself.

"Well, as far as I've seen...they've never had any interest in each other, save for friendship. But he has always been fiercely protective of Jenny. He's even tried to save her from the back of a Cluster Missile as she rode on it without an issue." Sheldon explained. Leo nodded, and then looked down at his food in his hands.

"So a human boy may have fallen for a robot girl...how cliche." he said bluntly before he took a huge chunk out of his Sub.


	19. 19  SMARTE

**A/N: Chapter 19! Took a while for it to show up, eh? Sadly, I don't have as much time as I'd like to dedicate to writing the story. Atleast I can give you guys the first combat scene, right? Right.**

* * *

Sheldon and Leo only saw Brad again the next day, as the two boys proceeded to school. The walk was quiet at first, but then Brad finally looked at Sheldon after a few minutes.

"Look, Sheldon, I'm sorry about yesterday. I was way out of line, acting the way I did." Brad said as he dropped his shoulders in shame. Sheldon looked at Brad for a moment, and then waved it off.

"Don't worry about it Brad, you were running on a short fuse as it was. We all have, actually. Besides," Sheldon said as his face changed from a happier one to one of depression, "what you said is absolutely true. I really do still treat her as mostly a piece of technology than a person."

"Now that we have that out of the way," Leo interrupted in a slightly panicky tone, "can we get to school? We're going to be late!"

* * *

As the trio approached the school doors, they found the front hallway completely deserted. All three panicked, as they figured school had started already. As they rushed to their lockers, they were about to turn the corner when Leo suddenly thrust his arms out to his sides, blocking Brad and Sheldon, shouting for them to stop. Seconds later, Vice Principle Razinski walked part the corner, and looked at the boys.

"Why are you three not in the Gymnasium? I thought you were friends of Ms. Wakeman?" he asked with a hint of suspicion. As the three boys nodded that they were, he noticed they had done so slowly and in a confused manner. "Did she not tell you three? You in the middle, don't you live at her house too?"

"Yes, but...she and her mother were out of town for the night, so I never even saw them. Why, what is going on in the gymnasium?" Leo asked boldly. Noting the spunk Leo had, Razinski continued.

"Well, YOU are supposed to be hosting her return assembly. At least, that's what I was told by her Mother. You should probably get backstage." he spoke to Leo, who then dashed off in the direction of the stage, looking even further confused. Brad and Sheldon stood in the hallway silently, looking at Razinski, who looked back at them. "Well? Shouldn't you two be going into the gymnasium now? Its going to be starting soon." he said in an annoyed tone. Brad and Sheldon simply nodded, and walked towards the gym.

* * *

"Whats this all about, do you think? Why would Jenny have a...return assembly?" Brad asked an equally lost Sheldon, who simply shrugged in response. As they approached the Gym, the pair could hear the buzz of hundreds of students inside, and quickly opened the door. They were suddenly showered with praise and shouts, with people trying to shake their hands. The applause confused Brad and Sheldon, who were essentially shoved along into a pair of seats in the front row. "What on earth is going on here?" Brad asked his neighbor, a man in a business suit who was all too happy to explain.

"Well, XJ-9's new frame is going to be unveiled. Her new technology is a great stepping stone for society in general. That, and I guess her peers are excited to see her back again." The man explained. When Sheldon looked over at him he noticed a peculiar badge on his collar.

"You're Silva Corp.'s PR president, right? Whats Silva Corp doing here?" Sheldon asked innocently.

"Leo never told you? Well, Silva Corp technology is actually featured inside XJ-9, so naturally we've made an appearance. Leo, being the CEO, is also going to be the host of the conference. So, naturally, I'm present." The man said good-naturally. Brad and Sheldon looked at each other quickly, just before someone spoke over the PA and asked for silence. Moments later, some music played and Leo quickly dashed on-stage, causing many of his peers to cheer and shout. This prompted Leo to cough and smile in an embarrassed manner, and he began asking for silence.

"Yeah. Hi to you all as well, lets get this show started! Now, I wasn't aware of my role here today until about 10 minutes ago, so you'll have to bare with me as I figure out what I'm supposed to say..." Leo said, as he pressed his ear a slight amount before continuing. "As, it seems I'll have to speak for a bit, as Jennifer isn't quite ready yet." he had continued before pressing his ear again, looking annoyed. "Okay, yes. For those of you who LIVE UNDER A ROCK," Leo seemed to emphasize his statement towards whoever was on the other end of his earpiece, "XJ-9 has a personality, and she prefers being called Jennifer Wakeman. Just so we're _clear_."

"Leo, you make my job so hard sometimes..." Silva Corp's PR president sighed, while grabbing his forehead. It took mere seconds for Brad and Sheldon to see why the man was upset, as Leo's statement seemed to annoy many of the attendees in business suits. The students, however, were happy with his spiteful announcement.

"Right! So...as for some news for you clambering reporters and students of Tremorton High, I will be attending here from this day forward, so I -" Leo had tried to say before being cut off by loud female shrieks and giggles from the student's area. Most of the boys, however, groaned, save a few. "Yeah, I know boys, I feel the same. But it's not like we had a choice in the matter... at least keep your girls on leashes, okay?" Leo joked slightly, eliciting some laughter from the crowd. Leo spoke for about another 10 minutes, and the students slowly became restless. Brad and Sheldon were no exception, resorting to sword fighting with pencils from their pockets, ignoring the looks shot at them from the woman next to Sheldon. Suddenly, Leo introduced a man in an expensive looking business suit who had appeared on-stage unseen by Sheldon and Brad, and the clapping made them stop and look. Once Sheldon got a good look at the man on-stage, he suddenly became excited and sat at the edge of his seat, confusing Brad.

"What're you doing dude? You know this guy or something?"

"Know him? Mr. Smarson is a leading specialist in A.I. development and technology, I always read his technology reports from the Silva Corp. website! Quiet and listen!" Sheldon whispered quickly.

"Thank you, Leo. Now, I'm here to present to you all a new piece of technology for use in the medical field. It will, I'm sure, take it by storm! I'm pleased to present to you, the Silva Corp. Mobile Rapid Electromagnetic Diagnostic Device, or SMARTE! It's designed to simply scan the activity in the electromagnetic field around a subject and rapidly diagnose what their medical issue is, and with the added bonus of being easily maneuverable, it can be present in even remote workplaces, such as Oil fields of Lumber yards. As an extra feature, it can automatically upload and send it's findings to the nearest hospital using the already available Rapid Response Information systems featured in all hospitals across the United States." Mr. Smarson explained as a couple of men in suits rolled out a number of the devices on carts. Mr. Smarson then turned to Leo for him to continue the explanation of the device.

"As a visual demonstration, we're going to test the device along David's forearm. All one has to do is line up the area they want to check within the clearly defined yellow box on the screen and press the scan button, which we'll do now..." Leo explained, just before he pressed the button. Once he did, an audible beep was heard along with a pre-recorded male voice stating the device had begun a scan. Mere seconds later, two quick beeps were heard, along with a 'Scanning Complete'. Shortly afterwards, the device spoke again.

"Lateral Epicondylitis detected. Please see your local Physician for diagnosis confirmation and treatment." the device informed Leo in it's monotone voice. Smiling, he turned to the crowd in-front of him.

"And only two hours ago, David was diagnosed by a Physician with Tennis Elbow. How's that for a Rapid Diagnosis?" Leo asked the crowd, who began clapping loudly, save for the students who clapped weakly due to their boredom. Once the clapping died down, some of the reporters began asking questions.

"Mr. Silva, how expensive is this device, and why does Silva Corp. see the device actually succeeding when Medical Response is already so quick?" One reporter asked.

"We're not 100% on the exact price yet, so I won't release precise details on that quite yet except that it will definitely be affordable in the Standard Business Budget. We're also working on getting Federal Government support for smaller businesses that are interested in getting a SMARTE, either for the sake of faster medical service or if they deal in hazardous materials or situations. As for it being successful, yes. I do feel it will do well. While the C1900S Rapid Medical Response Aircraft by CryorTech found at all major Hospitals is a formidable unit in the fight for Human lives, who doesn't want to have a good idea of whats wrong with them or their loved ones that much quicker?" Leo answered the reporter with grace and experience. As more reporters clambered for answers to their questions, Leo picked a second one at random.

"How come Silva Corp. is viewing businesses instead of actual Hospitals as their target for the SMARTE? And can we expect specialized A.I. interaction with the SMARTE due to Mr. Smarson having a hand in it's development?"

"As for your first question, the reasoning behind that is Silva Corp. is currently developing a much more precise system along side the SMARTE that is actually capable of assisting Doctors and Surgeons in fixing a patients problem. As such, it is currently out of the price range of nearly all businesses, and also quite large. Due to it's size and nature, we are unable to provide public demonstrations." Leo answered intelligently. He paused for a moment to look at his partner on the stage and then quickly spoke again. "As for your second question, I'll refer you to David."

"Thank you, Leo. Yes, the A.I. in SMARTE and it's hospital counter-part are very intelligent, in which they are capable of actually interacting with each other and exchanging data if operators find the need to use the devices together. They can even communicate via wireless connection with most current medical devices on the market, such as Synthetic Design's Intelligent Pacemaker. However, the main reason that I was part of the project, which became much more apparent later into the project, was that XJ-9's new frame was going to feature a condensed version of the SMARTE, and as such, I needed to write the A.I. code that would integrate cleanly and could have the option to operate independently from XJ-9's main code." Mr. Smarson answered. Once he finished, there was an explosion of questions from the reporters that managed to topple the cool and collected looks on Leo and Mr. Smarson's faces, sending them reeling. Waving them off, Leo made an announcement.

"Calm down, calm down, please! It's time to begin the exhibition of the one reason you're all here." Leo began to say. The woman next to Sheldon snorted and grumbled about how she was only there for the SMARTE as Leo continued to speak. "I've received word that Jenny is ready to come out, so lets begin with a video." he said as he pulled a remote from his pocket and clicked a button, which initiated a video on the back wall of the stage. The video first talked about the history of Silva Corp. and it's achievements, some of which seemed to make Leo slightly uneasy, much to Brad's confusion. As the video continued, it quickly changed to the XJ Series' history, as well as Jenny's personal history and her achievements. The mood became somber when the video touched upon her attack over Toboco, but quickly elevated when is came to the present day, and touched upon how Silva Corp. lent it's resources and even it's own CEO and Leading AI Specialist in an effort to get her working again.

"Now please get ready to meet and greet the Upgraded XJ-9, Not only in combat prowess, but also in beauty, XJ-9 Mk. II!" The video shouted as all the students became shouting and cheering at the curtain began to shift. The cheering quickly died off, though, when Jenny was quickly a no-show. Smiling and chuckling nervously, Leo quickly dashed over to the curtain, and only part of his left leg could be seen as he spoke to her.

"What's wrong? Why are you not coming on-stage?" Leo spoke quietly and calmly, and then Jenny could be heard faintly over his microphone attached to his shirt.

"I'm just...nervous! I would have preferred simply walking into school normally over this. Also, it's like I'm flaunting the new me, but I don't really...deserve this." everyone heard her say. Brad quickly jumped up from his seat in the front row and began to shout.

"Don't be so modest, Jen! You've deserved this for so long, its time that humans did something nice for YOU!" Brad yelled from his seat. Sheldon, and the rest of the students began to join in cheering for her to come out. Leo stepped back onto stage a bit, to allow Jenny a look. As she stuck her head out from behind the curtain, people began to gasp and whisper. Jenny began to become nervous and retract behind the curtain again, so Leo 'accidentally' tripped one of her feet out from under her so she stumbled onto the stage.

"Whoops! So sorry, Jen. I didn't see your foot there." Leo tried to say innocently, yet failed. Nobody noticed, however, as everyone was staring at the radiant beauty in front of them on the stage.

"Uhm...Hi?" Jenny said nervously to the crowd in front of her. Some of the boys began whistling and cat-calling, causing Leo to 'ahem' and cast them a 'Doom Glare', which silenced them immediately. Many of the girls also began commenting on how pretty Jenny had become. When Jenny looked down at Brad and Sheldon, she noticed they were speechless. "Guys? Whats wrong?"

"Nuh...nothing. But...you have HAIR! Actual hair!" Sheldon shouted, causing Brad to nod in agreement. Smiling earnestly, Jenny spoke again.

"Yeah, isn't it cool? Mom gave it to me as a birthday present! I can will it to any shape, actually." Jenny explained, and then demonstrated it by changing from curly hair, to a bob-cut, and then to her signature Pig-tails. "No more annoying vertical stabilizers to get in the way!" Jenny shouted gleefully. Leo and Mr. Smarson quietly winked and gave each other props behind Jenny, as she entertained the two boys by changing her hair rapidly.

"Hey Jenny...doesn't that mean you lose out on stability while you're in flight?" Sheldon asked curiously, fueled by his need to know his interest's new abilities.

"Mom panicked about that, actually. She had almost forgot, so she began rigging these up..." Jenny trailed off, as she turned around and two slots on her back opened up to show a pair of small jet engines. "They're not exactly finished. Mom told me she plans on adding little aircraft wings for 'increased stability'" Jenny finished with an exact impression of Mrs. Wakeman's voice.

"Wow, looking good. I was wondering what she'd do to counter the loss of stability. Of course, your Mom IS Noreen Wakeman, so it's normal she'd make more improvements." Leo said from the corner of the stage, slightly startling Jenny. The meaning behind Leo's statement was caught by Jenny and Mr. Smarson, but went over Brad's head and surprisingly Sheldon's as well, causing the two boys to give Leo a pair of raised eyebrows.

"Aircraft-esque wings offer more weapon variance chances, giving you the option of having ballistic weaponry while similarly having energy based weapons. Like Leo said, definitely Noreen's style." Mr. Smarson had finished for Leo. "Speaking of the creator of the XJ Global Robotic Response Series, I welcome Noreen Wakeman to the stage to speak a little bit more about the improvements!" Mr. Smarson spoke to the crowd, as he waved Mrs. Wakeman over from behind the curtain. Beaming, she waved and repeatedly said 'Thank you, Thank you.' over her microphone as the crowd clapped, with some of the students cheering in the back.

"Yes, well, the improvements...to be honest, nearly everything of the original design was scrapped in favor of newer, and more efficient, hardware. Now, if you'll look at the schematics of the back armour plating design on the XJ-9 Mk. I model, you'll see that everything was done in a synchrotractic manner. This design was highly resistant to energy based attacks, but had a tendency to deform and undergo structural fatigue during ballistic and physical damage, requiring a replacement after nearly every skirmish encountered by the XJ-9 Mk. I model. Significant progress in armour design efficiency was made during the period shortly after XJ-9 Mk. I had been released, but due to design complications, the armour design could not be significantly altered without a total overhaul to take advantage of said efficiency. The rise of the need for the XJ-9 Mk. II model presented a wonderful chance to use the Parabolic-Smysen design, for it's superb protection against laser, ballistic, and melee based damage. Unfortunately, due to a lack of progress in electric based attack defense, very little was done to improve resistance to electricity, save for a magnetic field detection system, designed to give as best a warning as possible to warrant a chance to flee the attack." Mrs. Wakeman had begun to explain, boring Jenny, Brad, and the rest of the students nearly to tears at a record setting rate. After a few moments, Jenny had begun to fidget. The light movements quickly changed to her sticking her arms behind herself and pushing on her back. Smiling nervously and obviously embarrassed, she tried to force something on her back in. Leo discreetly wandered over and muted his mic, whispering to Jenny, who then indicated something on her back. Leo began to attempt to push on something on her back himself, but after much visible effort, he could not succeed. Everyone began to whisper and comment on the commotion behind Mrs. Wakeman. Annoyed about being intterupted, she turned her back on the crowd towards Jenny and Leo. "And what exactly is going on that has everyone so interested?"

"Sorry Mom, I can't- OOF! I can't seem to retract my rocket boosters.." Jenny tried to say quietly. Sighing, Mrs. Wakeman wandered over to assist her daughter. After much tugging and pushing, they rockets finally went back into their housing, much to Jenny's delight.

"There, now don't retract them again until it's time to contin-" Mrs. Wakeman had begun, before she was rudely interrupted AGAIN by the gymnasium ceiling over the crowd exploding. Without warning, a giant fly came in and began spewing goo all around the gymnasium, which began to melt anything metallic it touched. Before Leo and Mr. Smarson could run, some goo hit hit a pole holding up a rack of lights, which came tumbling down on top of them with a loud thud. People everywhere were panicking and running around, trying to escape the gym before they got slobbered with the goo.

"I thought I cooked you in a fly trap already! Hold still and let me get a fix on you already!" Jenny was shouting at the fly. Finally locked onto her target, Jenny took a leap off the Gymnasium stage to begin chasing the fly, only to slam front first onto the floor.

"Jenny, not to be an obvious asshole, but you don't have rocket boosters right now, remember?" Leo shouted from his pinned position under the lights. Cursing her luck, Jenny got up from the floor to see the fly simply climbing on the wall, looking at her with taunting eyes, which served only to enrage her. Shouting, Jenny took a running leap at the fly, which lazily dodged the attack and landed on another wall.

"Why...won't...you...sit...STILL!" Jenny shouted, pausing between words to launch more attacks. Jenny was startled when she heard Leo speaking from inside her head.

"_Jenny, I've rigged a system to speak to you during any missions in-case you ever needed advice. I've got some for you now, if you'd like..._" Leo trailed off, waiting for an answer. Jenny figured out how to project her voice over the connection, and then replied.

"_I'm all ears...give me anything you've got. This fly is REALLY beginning to annoy me._" she answered, audibly frustrated with her current situation.

"_You've got your parkour systems online still. If you can climb the wall opposite from the fly, you may surprise it with an attack while your back is to it._" Leo suggested. Even though Jenny found the suggestion far-fetched, she decided to give it a try regardless. Running towards some of her cowering classmates, Jenny dashed up the wall in a move that surprised them. She quickly jumped backwards from the wall at the peak of her run up the wall, grasped a basket ball hoop, and continued her climb upwards using parts of the wall as ledges and footholds. She stopped mid-way up the wall, and turned to look at the fly, who had begun to eye her with curiosity, but it didn't budge. Further frustrated by the lack of progress, Jenny vented over her comm-link with Leo.

"_Your weird idea didn't work, what next?_" she asked Leo hotly. Taking her annoyance in stride, Leo replied calmly.

"_Uhm...maybe try flashing some bare metal at him? Why not show him your unfinished rocket boosters? Maybe it will bait him into a position where you can strike with deadly accuracy. I hope your targeting systems are function correctly...we haven't tested them yet..._" Leo mumbled at the end.

"_You want me to FLASH IT? Where is your mind, mister!_" Jenny replied angrily once she got over the initial shock at the suggestion, and began blushing intensely. Waiting a moment, she began to blush even more after she reprocessed what he suggested. "_You said metal, right...sorry, I got it._" Jenny said to Leo over the comm link. After initializing the incomplete rocket booster sub-system, Jenny's fragmentary boosters slipped out from her back again, and she began fluttering them akin to how a bird would stretch their wings. The fly began to stare hungrily at the waving boosters and began to stir. Seconds later, it had left it's perch of the damaged wall and quickly made it's way to the opposite side of the gym where Jenny was baiting it. As Jenny turned her head to keep an eye on the fly, she saw it begin to draw up some of it's metal eating goo. In response, Jenny leapt backwards from the wall towards the fly, twisted herself in mid-air, and brought out her foot in a flying spear kick to the fly's head. The sheer force of the strike caused her foot to go through the fly's head, just before sending it's corpse rocketing back to the side of the gym it came from. Jenny landed from the attack gracefully, and stared at the fly, looking for any sign of further attack. After a few moments of no movement from the fly, she was satisfied that there was no longer any danger, and began to walk towards the stage to help Leo. After a few steps, however, she suddenly collapsed onto her front, and her vision began to glitch and fade in and out. After a quick diagnostics check done by her internal repair systems, a message flashed the message under her 'Status Report' section of her HUD which read 'Energy: Critically Low. Seek Sunlight, Power Outlet, or Organic Food'. As Jenny had trouble staying online, it was only when someone had pulled her onstage and plugged her into a wall outlet on the stage was she aware of the people staring at her.

"Hey Jen, glad you're still with us! You totally kicked that fly's butt!" Brad said excitedly once he saw she was alert. Confused about her state, Jenny looked towards her mother for answers.

"Your battery is brand new, and still needs to be 'trained' as to the amount of charge it can hold. The maneuver you executed today seriously strained the current limits of your battery, so you very nearly underwent a safety shutdown to converse power." Mrs. Wakeman explained to her exhausted daughter. Feeling like she was out of breath, Jenny simply nodded and closed her eyes for a moment while she gasped for air. "Your gasping for air is also a new system, designed to cool down overheated parts and systems. The same system will also begin to throttle down performance in your various parts if the liquid and air based cooling can't keep up with the amount of heat being generated. The throttle was masterminded by Mr. Silva here."

"So...'fatigue' then?" Jenny asked, her panting reduced to a less dramatic level. Mrs. Wakeman simply nodded in response, but Jenny still had more questions. "But why add a fatigue system? Why not make more efficient cooling systems?" she asked her mother, but Sheldon felt the need to be heard and jumped in to answer.

"Well, that's the thing, Jenny. She DID make them better. If she used your old system, you'd probably be all melted and burnt curcuitry inside after you landed. The rest of your parts are of such high performance and calibre, that they'd destroy themselves if running at full blast without military grade cooling." Sheldon answered intelligently. Jenny simply sighed, but quickly smiled afterwards.

"I'm so powerful, that I'd kill myself going full on for an extended period of time if I overrode my 'fatigue' system. Did I get that right?"

"In short, yes. Yes, you would." Leo replied, not wasting any time in the explanation process. "Now, if it wouldn't be too much of a hassle," Leo spoke up from the floor of the stage, still pinned under the stage lighting rig that fell on himself and Mr. Smarson, "could someone help us from under this?" Leo asked with a hint of pain and humility. Brad and Sheldon heaved on the rigging, allowing Leo and Mr. Smarson enough clearance to slide out from under it. Once the two males got up and dusted themselves off, they quickly began carting all the tech they had shown during the conference.

"Jen, I still can't get over the way you handled that fly. That was the most amazing attack I've ever seen you do! Once you jumped from the wall, it's like you moved at the speed of a bullet!" Brad spoke up excitedly. Normally Jenny would smile and be embarrased by his praise of her combat abilities, but she got stuck on something he had just said.

"I moved like a bullet...? I honestly felt like I was floating slowly through the air for a bit." Jenny exclaimed, confused at the conflicting information. At this, Jenny noticed Mrs. Wakeman eye's beginning to have that telltale twinkle that nobody else ever seemed to notice. Before she could probe her mother for information, Brad quickly continued their conversation.

"Yeah! You actually went so fast that you put your foot through the thing's head!" Brad explained to her. This information caused Jenny to grow wide-eyed, and she whipped her sight over to her left foot, only to see green slimy goop still covering it.

"Oh, EW, EW, EW, EEEWWWW! Ew, Bug guts, get it off meeeee!" Jenny began to shout in an extremely disgusted tone, while she began hopping around flicking her leg in an attempt to clean it of her opponent's remains.


	20. 20  A Night To Remember

**A/N: One large order of LY-2, coming right up! You guys thought this was dead, didn't you? Well, I hadn't forgot about it, I just never set any time aside to write it. Aion takes alot of time to become alot of fun. It also takes my hard earned money away for which I need to buy my wheels. '97 Jeep Cherokee, you're MINE!...in three paychecks. Bills blow.**

**On topic, this is my largest chapter yet, at 48 KB (RTF format) and 8,771 words! The previous largest was 30 KB (RTF format) at approx. 4,900 words! Well, regardless of the amount of words I throw at you, what matters is if the chapter is well written, so here is to hoping you guys enjoy this update!**

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Jenny was absolutely ecstatic, and pranced around the school almost dancing, gaining a few snickers and stares from her peers (To be fair, most of the stares came from boys for a completely different reason).

About a week had passed since Jenny defeated the Metal Eating Fly, and during that time period she did manage to get into a few fights with some bad guys, but most of the problems had to be dealt with by Skyway Shock Troops, as she still having issues with energy storage and consumption. Yesterday's scramble, however, was the easiest one for her so far, as the only real work done was actually getting to the scene (owing to the fact that her rocket boosters in her boots were still badly damaged). The Mudslinger had been flinging tons of garbage towards a fashion show, disrupting the entire thing and making people absolutely filthy (not to mention the stench). Once Jenny showed up on the scene and Mudslinger turned his attention to the new arrival, he became so completely enamored in her beauty that he had forgotten why he was there, and proceeded to give Jenny surprisingly clean flowers. Happily accepting the flowers, Jenny continued to smile as she knocked him out with a single punch to the face, and then handed him to the police. After picking the prettiest of the bunch and sticking it between her left ear and head, she had quickly planted the rest hoping that they would take to the soil and flourish.

The flower still in her hair today, Jenny continued to dance around the school hallways in her outburst of joy, she began thinking about what had happened during her last fight. _'Wow, I'm a bit of a Black Widow. If I use my charms just right, I can confuse my opponents and land harder hits!'_ Jenny had thought to herself, and dedicated some processing time to thinking up scenarios and strategies to deploy against her male antagonists using her feminine wiles. As Jenny processed these attacks plans, and allowed thoughts of how her plans tonight could unfold, she hadn't noticed Sheldon approaching her from the front. She did hear Sheldon shout 'Look out, Jenny!' just before the two collided and fell into a heap. As Jenny reassessed her surroundings, she did found Sheldon underneath her, along with his hands on her breasts. As the two collided Sheldon and thrown his hands up in a protective gesture, and as a consequence his hands ended up in a very unbecoming position. Jenny began to fume about her friend's indecency to the point of being unable to move, prompting Sheldon to grow extremely nervous.

"Wh-whats wrong Jenny? You've gone from prancing happily to looking like you're going to go on a murderous rampage, did I do so-" Sheldon had begun to say, before he stopped in mid-sentence once he was aware of his hands were on something soft. Not taking long to figure out why Jenny was so silently angry, Sheldon bolted out from underneath her and hid behind a tiny pillar while shouting. "OH, NOOOO! NOT AGAIN! I DIDN'T MEAN TO, I SWEAR!" Sheldon cried as Jenny picked herself up from the floor, struggling to contain her rage.

"Normally, when I say 'Of course you didn't.' I'm being sarcastic, but you... Yikes! This is the fifth time you've DONE this! Do I have to break your hands so you keep them to yourself?" Jenny shouted at the pillar. Brad came walking leisurely from around the corner, looking for the source of the familiar shouting. Once he found it, Brad shook his head and approached the pair.

"So whats the shouting match about?" he asked stoically. Jenny turned around, visibly angry, and crossed her arms while she averted her gaze.

"He managed to get his hands on my chest again as we fell to the floor. I'm contemplating snapping his wrists." Jenny explained grumpily. Brad smirked and looked over at his other friend cowering behind the pillar in the hallway.

"Yeah, I heard. Maybe give him another chance to have functional hands..? He does need them to work on robotics, so..." Brad asked in an apologetic manner on Sheldon's behalf. Jenny turned her gaze towards Sheldon (who had now peaked his head out) and glared before she sighed, and then looked back at Brad and replied.

"One. Last. Chance. I'm not kidding, either. I'll actually snap his wrists next time." Jenny grumbled. As Sheldon cautiously approached Brad and Jenny, he began to talk again.

"So, uhh...a-anyways, what has you so excited?" Sheldon asked, which reminded Jenny of what occurred only a few minutes ago, causing her to become joyful once again.

"Oh! That! Oh, it's so awesome! I'm so excited!" Jenny said to the two boys, smiling widely. She suddenly gasped however, and became upset. "Oh god, what will I wear? I only have some good clothes for school, and my fighting kit!" Jenny moaned, visibly upset. Sheldon raised an eyebrow in confusion, while Brad kept a cool look on his face.

"Whats she so worked up about..?" Sheldon asked Brad, clueless. Brad turned on his cool attitude and explained.

"Shel, when a girl gets a date, 99% of the time she is so self critical about how she wears her current outfits that she convinces herself she needs new ones. In this case, it just so happens that Jenny actually DOES need more outfits. She isn't wearing metal clothes anymore." Brad spoke in a manner which exuded knowledge in the ways of girls. Sheldon simply nodded before he freaked out slightly.

"SHE HAS A D-D-DATE? Oh, with WHO...?" Sheldon wailed as the prospect of losing his chance with Jenny forever entered his mind. Jenny simply blushed and became quiet.

"I'm, uhm...going on a...with...-ima" Jenny mumbled. Brad was about to try and kept her to speak up and say it again, but before he could Sheldon flipped out.

"You're going out with that jerk AGAIN? Seriously, I thought you learned your lesson about him LAST time!" Sheldon shouted at her. Now equally enraged, Jenny shouted back.

"What I do with myself is NONE of your concern! I weighed the odds, and he apologized to me about his behavior that night, so I'm going out with him again. I'm GOING to run my proximity scanners while I'm out, Sheldon, so I'll KNOW if you show up, or try and sick the Silver Shell on him!" Jenny screamed, just before stomping off. Brad simply gave Sheldon a pained expression and a shrug before he dashed after Jenny. Sheldon stood there for a moment, and then let out a long exasperated sigh.

"Why do you let guys walk all over you, Jenny..?" Sheldon asked aloud, sadly, to no one in particular. Giving up, he slouched over and slowly made his way back to his locker.

* * *

"Any idea where Leo is, Jen? I haven't seen him this whole morning." Brad asked, curious, while he and Jenny sat and ate lunch in the cafeteria. Jenny was about to answer when she suddenly became nervous, suddenly aware that many people were staring at her and whispering.

"Uhm...well, my Mom wanted to talk to him about something...she said it was importa- DON'T EVEN THINK OF DARING HIM TO DO THAT!" Jenny suddenly shouted across the lunch room at a boy who had demonstrated a grasping motion in her direction to his buddy while smirking. The two boys were so surprised by her outburst, that they turned pale and ended up running from the lunch room. Sighing angrily, she dropped back into her seat at her table and crossed her arms. "God, guys are such pigs.." she complained to Brad, who raised an eyebrow while he had a chunk of meat in his mouth. "Oh, uhh..except you?" Jenny backpedaled, embarrassed that she indirectly insulted her friend. Instead of responding, Brad simply shrugged and rolled his eyes, while he continued to chew his food. Finally swallowing, he asked her his question again.

"You were saying your Mom was talking to him?"

"Oh! Right. Well, that's really all I know. I'm not sure why it has taken this long, so I'm beginning to get worried that he may have been jumped." Jenny answered, visibly concerned. Brad looked at her for one moment and then tried to ease her concern.

"I'm sure he's fine. He was in Skyway Patrol for a while, if he was attacked he'd know how to fight back." Brad said to her. As he was about to ask Jenny a question about history class, the two of them flinched when the wall beside them disintegrated, caused by someone having been sent flying through it from the other side.

"...'Sup." groaned a filthy and dust-covered Leo, as the two at the table looked down at the floor behind them and noticed him. As Brad and Jenny got up to help him, Brume suddenly walked through the hole in the wall. He stormed right past Brad and Jenny, and grabbed Leo by the front of his shirt and began shouting at him.

"Fight back, you coward! I know you know exactly the event I speak of! You broke her heart, and she was forced to seal her heart away as punishment; forced to learn to ways of G'nuRa'ek!" Brume screamed at the dust covered boy in-front of him. Leo coughed a bit before replying.

"Seriously...I don't know...what you're talking about! I don't even know how to fight!" Leo strained to shout back. Just as Brume was winding up a punch directly to Leo's face, Jenny dashed forward and clutched his arm.

"Don't even THINK-" She had begun to say, before Brume sent his hand across Jenny's face, startling her and sending her tumbling backwards onto her back. Brume stared at Jenny, as if frozen in fear, as if having committed a huge taboo. As the mood in the room changed drastically from one of confusion to pure blood lust, Brume cautiously looked around the room at all the angry faced boys, an action repeated by Leo himself.

"Mind putting...me down gently before you...get pummeled to death?" Leo asked politely. Nodding slowly, Brume let go of Leo and began stepping backwards, before he bumped into Don Prima.

"Hey, man! You just back-handed my DATE! I think it's time to show you where you stand on the social ladder here!" Don shouted at Brume, while he menacingly cracked his knuckles. Brume only managed to squeak a quiet 'oh shit' before he was forced to literally run for his life. As the horde of boys (and some girls) began to stampede after him through the hole in the wall, Brad had begun to join the rush, but was quickly stopped when he felt his shirt get pulled back.

"Don't you even THINK of joining that sad display of male dominance! You help Leo clean up, I'm going to have to try and help Brume escape death." Jenny growled at a now grumpy Brad. As she zipped through the hole after the crowd, Brad stomped over to Leo and helped him pat himself down.

"What the hell was Brume even thinking? Slapping Jenny like that is a death sentence around here! And what the hell was he doing to YOU anyways?" Brad asked Leo, still enraged over Jenny getting hit.

"I don't know what his problem was. Dunno WHAT girl he was talking about, or whatever this New-Rayeck thing is." Leo explained, while trying to get some dirt off his coat, but eventually giving up to ask Brad a question. "Also, why is it that everyone exploded when Jenny got hit? I was under the impression people would have been excited to WATCH a fight, not start one..." Leo probed, curious to learn more.

"Well, that would've been the case BEFORE, before she...before her 'accident'." Brad began to explain, avoiding the subject of Jenny's attack as best he could. "But since she's come back, she's become one of the schools 'Idols'. Basically, she is regarded as one of the hottest girls in school, and people who are versed in the way of Tremorton High will...treat her like royalty, for lack of a better explanation." Brad finished, while trying to find a better term to use. Unable to find one, Brad spoke up again. "Shes actually really uncomfortable with all the popularity now, to be honest. She hasn't actually said anything to me but...I can just tell, you know?" Brad finished with a question.

"Well, you've both been hanging out for a couple of years, so that's normal to get a feeling for someone's emotions. So anyways, this royalty idol thinger. Doesn't Jenny's new status tick anyone off?" Leo asked with curiosity.

"To be honest, I'd assume the Krust Cousins would be on her case over it, but I've been seeing a strange lack of attempts to embarrass her. Its really weird, actually." Brad had begun to explain. As he was about to go on a tangent of his theories of what the two girls were up to, Leo suddenly yanked him behind an upturned table and put a finger over his mouth to convey a need for silence. As Brad listened nervously for whatever it was that had Leo so nervous, he began to hear the voices of the two girl's of their past conversation float in from the exposed hallway.

"Oh, it's a new hole in da wall, coo'. Anyways, you was sayin', girl?" Tiff was heard saying. Brit snickered a bit about a thought, and then replied.

"I said we need to make things interesting for our new...'Idol' somehow. If that bucket of bolts thinks SHE can step in on our title, she has another thing coming." Brit grumbled loudly. "If we can cause some trouble around town...maybe she'll be too exhausted to finish her date! It's perfect! Let's go find some thugs to hire!" Brit giggled evilly. Tiff managed a weak laugh in reply, and then a resigned sigh. Quickly, the two girls dashed out of range, and Leo got up, with Brad following suite.

"Ugh, Schrodinger's Cat! We need to warn Jenny, but...she'll just open up on us like she did Sheldon." Brad complained. Leo stared at him for a moment, and then began thinking.

"I doubt the validity of the 'Schrodinger's Cat' scenario, but I digress. You're right, we need to do something..." Leo trailed off, his eyebrows scrunched up in concern and thought while he bit the tip of his right thumb. After a few moments passed, Brad suddenly grew enraged.

"Those two should have Jenny let loose upon them. Seriously, who DOES stuff like that? Trapping her like that!" Brad shouted angrily, his brows furrowed in fury.

"Well, we do have at least one valid option..." Leo trailed off his sentence, staring at Brad's expression for only a moment before he continued. "We can warn Skyway Patrol. That's the quickest way, but it'll be difficult to have them help us in the state of high energy Jenny is pegged at." Leo explained, hesitant to continue.

"No way in hell am I going to cause Jenny not to be able to do something she wants to do, I don't wanna upset her." Brad decided, mostly to himself. Leo nodded and then continued from where he left off.

"The other thing I can think of is, well...we can ask Don to postpone the date to some other time." Leo offered as an alternative, which was quickly declined by Brad.

"If we asked Don, he'd probably just get his buddies to shove us into some lockers...it's quicker and easier to ask those Shock Troopers to take over for today. Besides, you're ex-skyway patrol, so shouldn't it be easier to ask them for a favor?" Brad asked Leo, who quickly looked down-trodden.

"Yeah...you'd think after all I've done, eh..?" Leo mumbled quietly, but looked quickly at his watch and spoke again before a confused Brad could ask him what was wrong. "Let's Hail them and get a comm-link connection, and see were it goes. We only have about 5 minutes before Gym."

Once the boys had stashed away Leo's communication equipment and changed into their gym gear in record time, they joined Jenny on the bleachers as they listened to their teacher explain how they were going to wrestle in class today, and how to wrestle effectively.

"You know, I have to ask: How do you know about Schrodinger's Cat?" Leo asked Brad, curious. Jenny turned her head to look at Brad with wide eyes, and her mouth dropped.

"You know about Schrodinger's Cat, Brad? Wow, I didn't know you actually payed attention in Physics Class!" Jenny exclaimed with an overflowing amount of surprise. Brad, visibly annoyed with the insults to his intelligence, crossed his arms and growled.

"Yeah, I know about it, I'm not stupid you know!" Brad whispered angrily to the two of them. Turning to focus on Jenny, he continued. "There was...a moment earlier today where I mentioned I was surprised that something wasn't happening, and as soon as I said that, it kinda...did. Really badly, too." Brad explained to the now giggling Jenny.

"That sort of stuff only happens to Sheldon, how did you get slapped with his bad luck?" Jenny joked, causing an annoyed 'Hey!' to leak from her opposite side as Sheldon leaned forward to become visible to Leo and Brad. Ignoring Sheldon as she was still upset with him, Jenny continued to whisper to Brad. "Anyways, Skyway Patrol contacted me a little while ago, they told me to take the day off for incidents. Said a couple of boys expressed some concerns about 'little ol' me', and asked them to take over for the day...you two wouldn't have anything to do with that now, would you?" Jenny asked Brad and Sheldon with a devilish smile and glint in her eye. Brad laughed nervously, attempting to speak, but was cut off by Leo jumping in.

"We have absolutely no idea of what you are talking about. Continuing to ask us about it would lead to wasted effort, so may I suggest an alternate topic?" Leo replied in a political manner, throwing Jenny slightly off her base. After collecting herself, she did indeed change the topic.

"Uhm...oh, did you see Don? He looked so angry a few moments ago, it looked like he was going to pop a vein in his temple."

"Oh? Any idea why?" Brad asked with innocent curiosity, after calming himself down.

"Believe it or not, somebody had the audacity to break into his locker! It happened a few minutes ago, at the end of lunch. When I find out who did it, I'm gonna grind them into dust, they almost cost me my date!" Jenny grumbled, as she pounded her fist into the palm of her opposite hand, prompting Brad and Leo to exchange glances or surprise.

"_They broke into his locker?_ That person really has a death-wish, eh?" Leo exclaimed.

"I'll say. He's got almost half the school looking for the thief. I offered to help, but Don just told me to relax and take it easy..." Jenny sighed happily, her mind floating off to cloud 9. She only snapped back when she realized Brad had asked her a question a number of times. "Sorry, say that again?"

"I asked you what they stole. Sounds like it was something important." Brad asked, a little grumpy having to repeat his question for a 3rd time.

"Oh, they stole his Day Planner. He keeps times, dates, and plans in it. Helps him keep on top of things, he told me." Jenny explained. Leo and Brad simply nodded slowly, trying to figure out why someone would want his Day Planner, while Sheldon grumbled about betting that Don does 'stay on top of things'. Jenny shot Sheldon a glare, and then got up with Leo when the Gym teacher got the two of them onto the wrestling pad for a demonstration.

After Gym class was over, Leo was nursing a sprained wrist with a ice pack while complaining to Jenny about being a terrible fighter. As Jenny was telling Leo about some combat stances he could attempt, Brad was walking slightly behind the two, until he found himself beside Sheldon, who was obviously still upset about Jenny going out later with Don. Brad discretely slowed him down enough so that the two could have a private conversation without having Jenny and Leo hear them.

"Sheldon, there is something you need to know.."

"What's up, Brad..?" Sheldon asked, sighing as he did so. Brad leaned in a little bit closer, to ensure no one around them could hear.

"Me and Leo really were the one's who contacted Skyway Patrol." Brad whispered nervously. Sheldon did a double-take once he heard what Brad had told him, while Brad waved his arms nervously, trying to get him to calm down. "Chill out, you'll cause Jenny to tease me if she hears you!"

"Sorry! But...why did you contact them? Jenny can take a couple thugs out, even with her energy limitations." Sheldon replied, while crossing his arms and awaiting a reply from Brad.

"Well, Leo and I overheard the Krust cousins plotting a way to cause Jenny to miss out on her date with Don tonight. They were going to get some thugs to cause trouble in town, so she'd be too tired to go. So Leo contacted the Shock Troopers and had them do him a favor and take over her shift for the day. They sounded so reluctant, though..." Brad explained to Sheldon at a whisper, as Leo and Jenny had come to a stop. Sheldon thought for a moment, and then replied.

"So, when did you want to meet up and kick some gangster tail?" Sheldon asked fiercely, literally throwing Brad off his balance. Beginning to fall backwards, Brad's worry changed from keeping balance, to how his head would greet the hard tile on the floor. They didn't stay there long, however, as he realized that someone had grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. Being yanked on, Brad quickly saw that Leo had been the one who spared him from a headache.

"Hey, careful now! Don't wanna be having your head split open, it tends to hurt!" Leo exclaimed, laughter in his voice. "Hey, I've got to get to my locker and head for geography class. I'll see you guys later." Leo bid, as he quickly walked off a hallway that branched away from the group. The trio stood still for a moment, before Jenny suddenly commented on the event that just unfolded.

"Anyone just see that?" She asked, to which Brad and Sheldon shook their heads. "Brad, he grabbed you with his hand that had the sprained wrist." Jenny explained her shock. Thinking for a moment, she came up with a possible reason which only caused Brad and Sheldon to sigh and shake their heads. "He must be pretending to be in pain, trying to make me feel strong! What a sweetheart!" Jenny smiled and closed her eyes happily, before she pranced off to History class. Before Sheldon could follow her closely, Brad grabbed his shoulder and began unfurling a note.

"'Brad, I smell trouble around the Day Planner theft. Meet me at Mrs. Wakeman's shed at 6:00 PM, we're going to be on lookout. Leo.'" Brad read the note in a whisper so that only Sheldon could hear him. "What the hell is he thinking? If Jenny catches us..." Brad asked, confused. Sheldon simply nodded and then gripped Brad's shoulder.

"Come by my locker once school is over, we'll head over to my house and get Leo to come over and tell us whats going on." Sheldon told a now even more confused Brad, only slightly less confused as he had an inkling of what Leo was up to. Not waiting for more questions, Sheldon proceeded to History class with a quickened pace, as to avoid being late for class. Brad began to head to his Physics class to avoid detention himself, deciding he, too, wanted answers as quickly as possible, and decided to start by avoiding unneeded delays.

* * *

Once the last period of the day was over, Brad talked to Jenny for a bit at her locker, and then gave her a flimsy excuse so he could take off, causing her to raise an eyebrow yet think nothing of it. As he was rounding the corner to Sheldon's locker and saw Don approach Jenny with his usual air of superiority, causing Brad to shake his head while chuckling to himself. He noticed, however, that he felt a little strange about watching the scene, and began to feel hot. In an effort to get away from the scene, he kept on heading towards Sheldon's locker, where he saw it's owner struggling to exit it from inside. Once he helped Sheldon collect himself (amidst much cursing and straining), the duo headed out from the school and Sheldon finally began to talk to Brad about what his suspicions were.

"Basically, the way I see it is, if the Krust Cousins went and hired some goons to cause trouble what's stopping the thugs from attempting to ruin her date? Don's day-planner could have exact locations and times, and his reputation for pin-point timing and details precedes him." Sheldon explained to Brad, who nodded his head in agreement as he listened.

"So you think this is what Leo has thought of as well? I can see why, it seems way too convenient now for someone to simply want to know what his schedule is." Brad asked, already sure of the answer. Sure enough, Sheldon nodded.

"Yeah, exactly. Sorry, one sec..." Sheldon mumbled slightly, while he pushed a button on his wrist watch. "Hello? Oh yeah, sorry I'm late, I met up with Brad at my locker and he was helping me some things. Sorry? Oh, shoot! I meant to phone and ask, sorry Nana! Yeah, he just wanted to iron out some details of a demonstration I'm going to show him and another guy. Well, it's...uhh...the C.E.O. and Owner of the Silva Corporation. Calm down, Nana! It's not that big of a deal, really...it'll probably run really late, though. Anyways, we're just around the bend now, see you in a minute. Bye." Sheldon hung the phone, his face glowing red with embarrassment, and he expected Brad to poke fun at him for being looked after like a young child by his Grandmother, but Brad shocked him a bit.

"Don't be embarrassed by your Grandma just wanting to look after you. At least you have someone around to look after you." Brad told Sheldon sternly, sounding bitter towards the end of his sentence. Sheldon pursed his lips, but decided to let the subject slide. He didn't like to bring up how Brad's parents were always away, as it usually made Brad upset.

"Lemme get the garage door..." Sheldon said after a tense and silent moment of walking finished. Once the two had got inside and Brad's eyes adjusted to the light in the garage that was Sheldon's bedroom and workshop, he took off his winter jacket and scanned the room. He saw the Silver Shell under it's cloth in the corner, with the suit he used to search for Jenny standing with the help of a rack beside it. As he continued to scan the room, he noticed interesting little nick-knacks all over. Just as Sheldon was finishing his call with Leo, Brad's eyes fell upon a box with a scrawled label on it. He quietly got closer to it to see if he could make any sense of the writing, until the writing suddenly became legible.

"Eye of Truth..?" Brad whispered to himself. Just as he was about to lean closer to catch a glimpse of the contents of the box, Sheldon grabbed his shoulder, causing both to jump and shout out of surprise.

"Wow, what was that?" Sheldon shouted, equally surprised by Brad's outburst. Brad got his bearings and then started laughing.

"Sorry, I was concentrating on that box there pretty hard, so I forgot you were even here." Brad explained, gasping for air due to his laughter. Once he calmed down a bit, he asked Sheldon a question. "What is that box for, anyways?"

"Oh, it's nothing really. I had a random thought about a week ago about biological masking being so 'unbreakable', so I've been trying to figure out how to break it. No real luck so far." Sheldon explained keenly.

"Biological Masking? Whats that? Is it like putting an organic cover on something?" Brad asked in earnest.

"That is the basic definition of it, yes. Essentially, to biologically mask something, you make it look, smell, feel, and even taste like something it isn't. An example would be making a Hot Dog taste and smell like a Watermelon. Now, according to the people who figured out the process, and others who have tested the claims, biological masking is virtually undetectable. Only way to notice it is if it's done incorrectly, like if someone forgets to mask the texture, or change a taste, or if they don't change the general look of something. Another limitation is an object can only be masked while being undetected if it shares the same shape as the object the masker has in mind. Going back to the Hot Dog and Watermelon analogy, while we could make the outside skin of the Hot Dog share the same pattern as a watermelon, we can't change it's physical size and shape." Sheldon ended up ranting about the technique, causing Brad to become bored of the conversation very quickly.

"No offense, Sheldon, I mean it is cool and all, but...what was your experiment all about?"

"Oh, my bad! Well, as I said: many people are claiming it's impossible to see through a properly executed biological mask. My thought was this: 'Following the theory that all things have a unique signature, shouldn't biologically masking something also leave a signature? If so, after decrypting this signature, is it possible to see what is really underneath?'" Sheldon explained proudly, pausing only for a moment to catch his breath. "Now, I've managed to disprove the claims about biological masking: it IS fallible. Biological masking does have a unique signature. However, I've run into a snag. While being a helpful discovery in the effort to mask the signature itself, it really made my life difficult in decrypting. Not all biological masks share the same signature. It depends on what the object your changing is, as well as the one you're making it mirror. Luckily it looks like it's only separated into general categories: Flesh, Plant, Wood, and so on." Sheldon explained his findings, with a noticeable down-trodden look. "It makes it easier, but I still need to create a database of signatures for the 'Eye of Truth' to be useful, so...it's not that great." Sheldon frowned, scratching his chin.

"Ahh, you'll get it eventually, you always do. Don't sweat it too much." Brad said in an attempt to cheer Sheldon up. Sheldon looked at his friend for a moment, before he smiled and nodded. He was about to thank Brad when Leo suddenly lifted the garage door, startling the two boys inside.

"Hurry, quick! Get into the car! They've gone out sooner than we expected, and the radar only works for short distances!" Leo shouted at them. Not wasting a moment, Brad and Sheldon grabbed a bunch of boxes that Sheldon had pulled out and dashed out to see a black van parked on the curb. "A mobile monitoring station! I was told it was mothballed by the FBI." Leo explained to the other two as they gave him an odd look.

"Why would the FBI lend us an old spy van? What on earth did you say to them?" Sheldon asked, looking shocked at the sophisticated spying equipment inside the van. "Most of this is up to date stuff, I don't think this Van actually was mothballed." Sheldon explained his question, to which Leo simply shrugged.

"Keep that bit of knowledge to yourselves, boys. Officially, they've been mothballed. As for us actually getting it, I've done a number of favors for them in the past. I've just decided to cash in on them." Brad and Sheldon heard Mrs. Wakeman explain from behind a monitor station, causing them to jump in shock. Leo started smiling lightly as he started the van's engine up while tweaking a monitor on the dashboard. Brad looked nervously at Sheldon, and began a quiet conversation with him.

"Why on earth is Mrs. Wakeman here?" Brad asked Sheldon, who simply shrugged and sat down on a seat in the van.

"I'm here because my daughter might end up in a bit of a mess. Not to mention, I don't trust that Prima boy. He may seem prim and proper, but I've encountered his type before; his intentions, I'm certain, are not sincere." Mrs. Wakeman answered for Sheldon. She leaned out from behind the monitor and continued to speak. "Good enough of a reason for you, Mr. Carbunkle?" Mrs. Wakeman asked with and an annoyed edge to her voice, causing Brad to simply nod quickly and quietly. Everything was quiet for a long, akward moment, but ended up being broken unceremoniously when Leo suddenly let out a shout of victory.

"Ahah! Caught the birds on the radar! Buckle up, lets have some fun!"

* * *

Leo was whistling away merrily as he drove up the winding canyon that Jenny's signal was taking them. Mrs. Wakeman, Brad, and Sheldon were all slouched in their seats, trying to find something to do as Leo drove the van at what seemed like a crawl. Mrs. Wakeman crossed her arms and began tapping her fingers on one arm, irritated at the lack of a decent pace being set by Leo. Finally snapping, she spoke her mind.

"Mr. Silva, you need to start driving the speed limit. This speed you are going is...mind numbingly slow." Mrs. Wakeman complained. Leo chuckled, embarrassed that his unease of driving around the canyon was causing the others to become annoyed. Nervously, he pressed the accelerator down a bit more until the van hit a proper rate of speed. Once the other three deemed that Leo was going a tolerable speed, they began to put on some warm black winter gear to prepare being outside.

"So how do these things work again?" Brad asked, just making sure he was initializing the motion detector correctly.

"You press the button on the left of the screen for 5 seconds, and then just spear it into the ground. Once you do that, it'll do everything else." Sheldon explained as Brad nodded. Just as the three in the back of the van finished getting their coats on, Leo spoke to them.

"We're approaching the operational zone. Looks like Don took Jen to Dispirit Peak. Weird place to take a date...it's name doesn't exactly incite a naughty attitude." Leo noted, which the others found odd as well. Brad felt a bit nervous when he learned the name of the place in which they were sticking around, given the rumors of Ghosts haunting the forest surrounding them. Sheldon was no better off, as he had begun shaking slightly, which he played off as a reaction to the frigid air. Once the van had been set, Leo began to suit up himself as Brad and Sheldon approached the edge of a clearing in which Mrs. Wakeman had indicated that Don had parked his car.

"Sounds like a bush party." Brad described the scene before him. "That's definitely Don's car, Jen is in there somewhere." Brad said, mostly to himself. Hearing a crackle in his ear, he listened in on the ear bud in his ear.

"I heard that this place was notorious for it's parties. They can get pretty wild sometimes. Keep an eye out for unsavory characters, they may be some clowns that got by Skyway Patrol's screen." Leo suggested through a microphone from the operation center. Brad and Sheldon scoffed when they heard this.

"Not like it's hard." Sheldon mumbled bluntly.

"We know, Mr. Lee. We're all painfully aware how usually useless Skyway Patrol is. You two need to stop sitting around and put out those motion sensors before someone slips in before they are online." Mrs. Wakeman ordered. Both boys, not wanting to test Mrs. Wakeman's patience, quickly separated in opposite directions and went in an arc around the edge of the clearing. Being sure to stay just outside of the light from the bonfire at the party, Brad found himself bobbing slightly to the music that was booming from within the party. His trance of placing the sensors and listening to the music was broken when he heard Sheldon gasp and begin to whimper slightly over his earpiece.

"Sheldon? What are you doing, you're going to get heard by them!" Brad whispered hotly into his microphone.

"I-I-I jus-just saw t-two fl-floating people go over the motion sensors!" Brad heard him reply, which made him feel a freeze shoot up his spine, and he began glancing around to look for ghosts.

"What were they wearing!" Leo shouted into the microphone sternly, to which Sheldon wasted no time in replying.

"K-Kimonos! They looked like two people from Japan's Edo period!" Sheldon exclaimed into the microphone.

"Oh no, oh no oh noohno. This is bad. Very, very bad." Leo mumbled into the microphone.

"Mr. Silva, please tell me whats going on? Whats with that pale look?" Brad heard Mrs. Wakeman speak with urgency.

"Those two people Sheldon saw are known as the Kitaki Twins. According to the Shock Troopers, they are recent escapes from their high security prison, and supposedly everyone is too nervous to approach them, even when the Twins were in prison. They're supposed to be masters of weather, able to conjure up thunderstorms, snow storms, and heatwaves on the fly. Not big storms, mind you, but storms nonetheless, and they can only effect a small area. But they've defeated nearly every opponent they faced." Leo explained, audibly concerned for everyone's safety.

"Who got them sent to jail then? Lets ask them how they did it!" Brad exclaimed loudly over his mic, quickly regretting it when a couple of the party members turned around and looked into the trees after barely hearing him.

"That's the thing: only reason they were in prison was because...well, they got bored, blew a giant hole in the jail's ceiling, and floated on into a cell. They claimed they wanted to see what prison was like." Leo replied, his voice downtrodden. Just as Sheldon began stammering into the microphone again, shouting and screaming began pouring out from the party, along with a sudden searing heat that immediately caused Brad to begin sweating intensely. People came streaming into the trees, running away from the clearing as fast as possible, some looking slightly sunburned. Not skipping a beat, Brad dashed into the clearing in time to see Jenny begin combat with the two Twins.

"Get...DOWN HERE!" Jenny shouted at the Kitaki Twins, who floated lazily out of reach of Jenny's huge leaping grasp. The more she struggled to try and wallop at least one of the Twins, the quicker and heavier she began to pant. Attempting to cool herself off, Jenny stopped attempting to jump at them and wandered into a little pool of water formed by melted ice. The Twins began to cackle with glee at the prospect of slowly wearing Jenny out.

"Hey Sis, looks like I'm making robot girl all hot and bothered! Why don't you cool her off a bit?" the male Kitaki exclaimed to his female companion.

"Sure thing, Brother!" The girl had shouted, and then she began to blow air from her mouth. The surrounding area plunged in a bitter chill, worse that what Brad felt when he had exited the van earlier.

"Brad! Sensors indicate a huge drop in temperature, make sure you stay away from ponds! They'll explode from temperature shock!" Leo shouted from Brad's earpiece. Suddenly remembering that Jenny had walked into a pond that formed, his heart dropped and he began shouting and running at Jenny, desperately trying to get her to leave the pond.

"Jenny, get out of the pond! It's going to blow up from temperature shock!" Brad shouted furiously at Jenny, who whipped around to the source of the sound with an incredulous look on her face.

"Brad? What the heck are you doing here? Did you follow-" Jenny began to berate him, before she was cut off by a white explosion of ice. Screaming as it sent her rocketing towards Brad, Brad panicked and ran over to her when she made a violent thud on the ground near him.

"Jen, speak to me, please!" Brad shouted, as a dazed and weakened Jenny raised her head from the ground while groaning.

"Brad, chill out, I'm okay." Jenny mumbled as she slowly regained her awareness. Sitting up stiffly, she looked at him with worry. "I don't care why you're here, just get out of here! I can't hold these two off for much longer, the Heat Stress on my internal parts caused my auto-repair function and energy level to take a beating. Maybe if I'm careful, though..." Jenny groaned, straining against her protesting servos as she slowly got back up. "That underhanded ice bomb didn't help any, though." she complained as she examined the many small cuts on her SynthSkin begin to quickly heal up.

"Jenny, Leo was telling me that no one has beaten these guys yet. Don't risk-" Brad began to plead, before she cut him off.

"I'm probably going to end up taking a dirt nap pretty quickly here, then. Now get away from here!" Jenny demanded of her close friend. Brad stared for a moment, and then shook his head.

"I'm not leaving until you do." Brad said flatly. Exasperated, Jenny simply sighed and turned back to make another attempt on the twins, who simply laughed some more, while preparing some more painful tricks. As Brad stood in a silent prayer that Jenny would win, Leo, Mrs. Wakeman, and Sheldon came from the trees to his right.

"What the hell is she doing? She's gonna become a scrap heap if she doesn't pull out!" Leo suddenly shouted in shock, which got Jenny's attention.

"If I run off, who is going to stop these two? The Silver Shell can't even handle some simple thugs from time to time, you think he is going to stop THESE TWO?" Jenny shouted back at Leo angrily, who cringed at her scorn. Leo's mind began to race quickly, looking for a way out of the situation they all found themselves in. He found himself jarred back into the current scene thought, as Mrs. Wakeman grasped his arm tightly with a nervous look on her face.

"Remember our deal? Please, help XJ-9. It's a mathematical and scientific certainty that she is going to be defeated. She hasn't had a chance to return to full strength, so please.." Mrs. Wakeman pleaded with Leo. Leo's face gained a dark look and he nodded slowly as he pulled his black winter cap tightly down on his head.

"...Alright, I'll do it. Just get out of-" Leo had begun to say when everyone heard a pair of 'Oomph!'s come from the Twins, who tumbled to the ground.

"Uhhh...what happened just now?" Jenny exclaimed, and glanced over to Leo. "You know all about these two, right? They do that normally?" she asked him, genuinely confused. Leo simply pointed at the female figure, wearing a pink and purple ninja-like suit with a hood, that stood between the unconscious Kitaki Twins.

"Looks like they may have brought a friend." Leo answered flatly. Jenny gasped when she saw the figure.

"Sorry, but they ruined a rad entry I had planned 'cause they can't shut it." The female figure's voice came from the blackened hood, full of confidence and a hint of arrogance.

"You! What are you doing back on earth?" Jenny growled angrily at the figure. "I thought I told you to never come back!"

"You...wait, what? You totally never said that! First you told me to leave Tremorton, then I totally steamrolled you and made sure you knew I was going to come back to finish this!" The unknown girl argued back at Jenny. Jenny thought for a moment, and then slouched over, looking defeated.

"Oh...yeah. I never sent you that email.." Jenny mumbled.

"You what? XJ-9, when did I allow you permission to connect yourself to the internet?" Mrs. Wakeman shouted furiously at Jenny.

"I know, Mom! Viruses and all, blah, blah, blah, bad for a G.R.R.U. to become infected, blah, blah. I never connect myself to the internet for email anyways, I used the PC in the living room." Jenny shouted back at Mrs. Wakeman.

"You 'never connect yourself' for email? So you HAVE connected yourself to the internet, then?" Mrs. Wakeman bickered back. Quickly, Mrs. Wakeman and Jenny descended into one of their trademark 'You never let me do anything' and 'Yes I do, remember' arguments, which quickly rubbed the girl's nerve raw, where she quickly snapped.

"Ugh, enough! I don't CARE about your potentially dysfunctional family and it's problems!" The girl shouted at Jenny as she proceeded to levitate upwards. She pulled out a thin, long, and slightly curved blade, which to pointed down at Jenny. "I believe you have information I'm looking for. Information that will lead me to a person I've been trying to find for a number of years. You're going to give it to me without issue, or we'll have to look for 'alternatives'," The girl demanded, sounding sinister at the end.

"Hah, as if I'd help you with anything! Come at me!" Jenny shouted the the girl.

"Hard way it is, then." The girl replied nonchalantly before she launched herself towards Jenny. Just before the sword connected with Jenny, there was a sudden twinkling of steel, the clang of metal, and a yelp escaped the attacker. Leo was suddenly standing in-front of Jenny, wielding a similar blade, with one of his palm thrust outwards. The girl had her right hand where her face was, hidden under her hood. When she withdrew it, blood was trickling down it steadily. "You broke my nose you prick!" the girl shouted angrily.

"You used a weapon on a target that had nothing except her fists and exhausted body, I think we're fair." Leo replied with a frigidity so intense, Jenny was shocked to her core.

_'Wow, where did the Leo I know go? That was some intense hate in his voice.' _Jenny thought to herself, a thought she could see on everyone's face.

"Can I expect you to know the ways of G'nuRa'ek?" The girl asked Leo expectantly, to which he nodded.

"I don't know everything, but who ever does?" Leo retorted venomously.

"Heh, I'm going to hate taking you down. I'm beginning to like you." The girl replied honestly, just before she unleashed a wildly fast barrage of sword swings upon Leo. Unfazed, Leo expertly blocked every attempt on his life, as he searched for a drop in guard in her wild swings. Once the saw one, he seized the moment and expertly parried one last swing in such a brutal manner that both swords broke at their hilts, which caused the girl to lose concentration for a split second due to disbelief. Continuing his counter and abusing her temporary lack of concentration, he brought up his leg and thrust the bottom of his foot into her stomach, channeling the energy from the parry into his leg as he did so. The result sent the girl flying into the trees near the canyon edge, knocking a few of them over. The fight having lasted only about 10 seconds, everyone but Leo and the girl who was buried in trees was speechless. Jenny began making little sounds in an attempt to begin talking, prompting Leo to look over at her.

"What?" he asked honestly. Glancing around at the others, he became a little irritated. "So I lied that I couldn't fight. Sure, Skyway Patrol taught me a few more things than how to use a few rifles...so what?"

"Th...that was more than 'a few things', Leo. You just wreaked the one person who was the only one person to legitimately beat me in a 1-on-1 fight. Not to mention, you did it in, like...10 seconds." Jenny explained breathlessly. Just as Leo was about to brush off the feat, the fallen trees where the girl landed began to rustle.

"Ugh, one sec. She's getting up." Leo replied in an irritated tone, running towards the trees. Leo hopped up onto one of the trees to look for the girl, only to see her holding it towards the steep hill down the steep canyon, while she smirked evilly. "Oh sh-" Leo began to shout, being cut off by having the regain his balanced on the tree as it slid down the hill.

"You're a lot more capable than I originally gave you credit for! Definitely more capable then that amateur that calls herself a Global Robotic Response Unit. A sword duel was obviously nothing to you, so how about a fist fight on a giant log sliding down a massive hill at an intense speed?" The girl shouted over the rush of wind and the sound of the wood sliding over small boulders on it's journey down the hill. Grunting angrily, Leo carefully stepped his way up the log towards his target. Snickering, she walked casually up the log without issue, and then began to bring her face close up to Leo's. "I think it's time to do a little mind melding!" the girl exclaimed. Seizing on the second moment of her dropped guard, Leo let loose a punch towards her head, but only managed to knock off her hood and expose her face and long hair to the elements. Taking a moment to look at her face, Leo suddenly went wide-eyed and couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"Mystresia?" Leo shouted, before the log hit a massive stone buried in the side of the hill, causing the pair to launch from the tree. As Leo flew through the air, many old and painful memories resurfaced at a rapid pace. Unable to bear everything, Leo blacked out before he even hit the ground.


	21. 21  Frozen Apologies

When Misty came to, she quickly found herself panicking over what had just occurred.

"No! Not now! I can't lose him now! I've been looking for him for 6 years, he can't get away now!" Misty thought to herself frantically, as she scoured the snowy mountain plain before her. "Brume! I need your assistance, come before me now!"

* * *

'_Her presence...is it bad that shes here? Or is it good, can she assist me? Oh well, I can figure that out...later. Now, wake up_.'

Leo groaned as he picked himself off the snow, feeling like he had been pile-drived by a bullet train. Seconds later, he noticed the sensation of hundreds of knives being thrust through him, as he found himself missing his jacket. As he went to brace himself with his arm to get up, a yelp of pain escaped him. He began to writhe in pain, while gripping his shoulder. "Haah! Ugh, dislocated. Why didn't it hurt when I woke up?" Leo whined to the eerily quiet forest. Seemingly lacking empathy, it gave no response to his question, save for the occasional small gust of cold wind, feeling like razor blades against his bare cheek. Getting up with his good arm, he began eying a tree and gritted himself. Taking a deep breath, Leo dashed at the tree, and slammed into it with his dislocated shoulder. The ensuing pain caused him to scream at the top of his lungs, and shortly afterwards, he passed out again.

* * *

"The hell was that?" Brume muttered to himself when he heard Leo's distant cry of pain. Not being the only one who heard it, Misty zipped to his side. "You heard it too, then?" he asked her, with a slightly down-trodden tone.

"Of course I heard it. I couldn't make out a direction though..." Misty replied, attempting strongly to mask the panic in her voice, but failing greatly. Brume quickly pointed in a direction he figured the sound came from, and Misty began to head in the direction pointed. She only made it a few feet when she realized the Brume wasn't following her. She quickly turned around to look at Brume, who was staring mostly at the snow on the ground before him. "Dude, whats the hold up? Come on, before...before he has a chance to, uh, escape." Misty spoke to him, almost pleadingly.

"We're not really here to assassinate him, are we?" Brume asked, a tone of sadness creeping into his voice. Misty was quiet for a moment, in which she too began looking towards the snow. Opening and closing her mouth a few times as she thought about what to say, she finally replied.

"No...no we're not." Misty answered softly.

"Mind explaining, then, why you've dragged me across the godforsaken universe to this area of Earth which feels like a frozen hell?" Brume shouted angrily at Misty, who uncharacteristically flinched at his anger. As she was formulating a reply, she and Brume jumped when they heard an extremely irritated female voice float out from the bushes.

"Yeah, to be honest, I'd like an explanation too. If it's good enough, I won't beat you as badly before I send you back into space!" Jenny yelled out, her voice dripping in malice, with her fists clenched tight and shaking. Misty and Jenny stared each-other down for what felt like ages, until all three were startled by some bushes rustling next to them.

"God, quit yelling, I have an awful migraine." Leo complained as he emerged from the brush, holding a hand to his head. Misty gasped, and then quickly ran to him, grasping him in a tight hug, to which he let out a pitiful cry of pain. "Ah-haaah! Not so tight, I just relocated my shoulder!" Leo shouted at her. Misty quickly let go, blushing due to embarrassment for her behavior.

"Uhm...what the hell is going on?" Brume asked, sharing a look of utter confusion with Jenny.

"You never told them?" Leo asked Misty, looking a little surprised as she shook her head while so looked at the ground. Leo sighed, silent, with an exasperated look on his face as he looked towards Misty for a moment. Looking back up at the other two, he quickly explained their familiarity with each other. "I've known the Princess for around...what, six and a half years?" Leo finished with a question, looking for clarification from Misty. Brume nodded contently with this new knowledge, but Jenny's mouth opened wide and she gawked at Leo and Misty.

"Pr...Princess? Did you just call Misty...Princess?" Jenny scoffed, having managed to collect herself.

"Uhh...yeah?" Leo answered, still a little startled at Jenny's responses. Staring at Jenny, who was having trouble processing this acknowledgement, Leo suddenly shot an irritated look at Misty, who began chuckling nervously.

"You seriously didn't tell anyone on Earth about your Heritage?" Leo asked Misty roughly, who began to nervously put her fingers together.

"Eh heh...uhh...no, I didn't." Misty replied. "What's the point of doing that? I abolished Rinjak's Monarchy system!" Misty shouted in reply to Leo's annoyed sigh.

"You may have pointlessly removed the Royal Family's - YOUR family's - political power, but it was kept for ceremonial reasons! In the least, you should let people know who you are!" Leo shouted at her angrily. As Leo and Misty got into a heated argument, Jenny sidled over to Brume, still staring at the two sparing in-front of her.

"Is Misty...seriously a Princess?" Jenny asked Brume harshly.

"Yes, she is. But she is so keen to shed her title and power, it baffles me. She made the changes exactly two years from the day her parents were murdered by extremists.." Brume explained to Jenny in an undertone, his final words making her gasp. Suddenly, Leo and Misty's argument garnered the other two's attention.

"I don't get it, why are you so bent out of shape over me managing my people the way I want to? Why I decided it was better to abolish Monarchy?"

"Because too many good people DIED trying to protect it's existence!" Leo screamed at her, clenching his fists in a rage. Leo's face suddenly went pale, a look of shock replacing rage. The clearing stayed quiet for a moment, a silence that was broken with the most shocking reaction, Jenny found, coming from Misty.

"...That's not fair." Misty mumbled miserably, and began to stare at the ground.

"No...it wasn't." Leo similarly mumbled. He remained quiet for a moment, before he walked off up the mountain. Stopping for a moment, Leo looked towards the black clouds in the sky, made even worse by the night sky. "It's time we got back to the van, a storm is picking up." Leo said in a quiet voice. Glancing back slightly towards Misty, who's eyes were hidden by her bangs of hair as she looked towards the ground. "You're both welcome to hop into the van. This storm is not going to be very forgiving if anyone lingers." Leo finished firmly, continuing his climb. Snapping out of her shock, Jenny walked quickly up to Leo with questions on her mind.

"What the hell was that?" Jenny asked bluntly. Focusing his gaze forward intently, he kept walking and replied without look at Jenny.

"I...I'll explain later, lets go before we get slammed by that storm." Leo spoke with a quiet tone, causing Jenny to stop and watch him. Now frustrated with the lack of transparency in his and Misty's argument, Jenny turned and walked back down to Misty. Misty looked at Jenny with a saddened expression, to which Jenny stood for a moment, and then nodded.

"Come on, let's go before the storm buries you. We'll...we'll sort things out later."

* * *

By the time the four of them got to the van, the wind had picked up tremendously. It was beginning to become difficult for everyone (sans Jenny) to see, being referenced sarcastically by Brad.

"Beautiful weather we're having!" he managed to shout over the howling as he held the van door open, beckoning and helping Leo in. He did a double take, however, when he saw Misty and Brume fighting their way through the snow towards the van. Just as he was about to raise alarm, Jenny grabbed Brad's hand and simply nodded at him. The two looked at each other for a moment, and Brad eventually nodded back, quickly helping Jenny in. Just as he closed the door after Misty and Brume, the Kitaki twins, who were tightly tied together in the back, began to panic, albeit groggily at first.

"Oh, oh man! Hurry up and get out of here! This power! It's going to destroy us!" The male of the duo cried out.

"Drive! Hurry and drive away from these mountains, or we'll be swallowed!" his Sister finished for him. The rest of the group looked on at the pair's antics, dumbfounded. While her brother continued to panic, the female Kitaki simply became annoyed. "Can any of you see through the snow towards the south? That...THING is what we're talking about." She explained.

"We're not going anywhere, cause...I can't drive, my arm is still pretty messed up. Besides, no one should drive in this weather." Leo spoke, annoyance on his voice. The girl gave him a dark glare, and jerked her head back. Being closest to the door, Leo sighed and opened the side door to the howling wind again, and tried looking over the rear of the van. He quickly popped his head back in though, shaking it. "I don't see a thing. Unless Jenny notices anything out of the ordinary, we stay." Leo said to the girl bluntly. Jenny got up, grumbling about having to remove her blanket, and then looked out towards the south, with Leo joining her. After she strained her eyes a bit, her jaw dropped wide open. "What? What do you see?" Leo shouted. The weather changed right after he asked his question, and the wind suddenly dropped, making a reply from Jenny moot point.

"Oh...my...gawd." Misty said in place of Jenny and Leo, having glanced out the back window. Jenny and Leo jumped back inside the van frantically, with Brad, Sheldon, and Mrs. Wakeman's confusion growing by the second.

"What? What is it?" Sheldon asked timidly, afraid of the answer.

"Giant freaking tornado, headed this way." Leo replied quickly and bluntly, fear written all over his face. As he went to move towards the driver's seat, his right shoulder bumped into the front passenger's seat, prompting a pained yelp to escape him. "Ugh, I can't drive like this..." Leo grumbled, frantically looking between everyone else, their level of fear quickly rising. Making a snap decision, Leo pulled something from his jacket pocket and turned to Jenny. "You need to drive us out of here!"

"Wh-what? I don't have the ability to drive at all!" Jenny shouted frantically to him. Moving quickly, Leo stabbed something into the back of Jenny's neck, causing her to go temporarily stiff.

"You do now!" Leo yelled at her over the increasing roaring of the oncoming Tornado, while he withdrew a USB stick. Nodding, Jenny dived into the Driver's seat, much to the dismay of Mrs. Wakeman.

"Mr. Silva, we haven't tested that data transfer method yet, if it didn't work correctly and her programming fails we'll-" Mrs. Wakeman began to shout, before being rudely interrupted by Leo.

"You wanna stay here with that twister, fine! Your choice! But I'd personally prefer having Jenny drive, over being a piece of twisted, bloody metal any day!" Leo shouted at Mrs. Wakeman. He looked at Jenny, who kept looking at her Mom and him. "Drive, dammit!" Leo barely managed to scream over the roar of the Tornado. Not skipping a beat, Jenny slammed the accelerator to the floor, prompt the engine in the van to roar in response, and sent the whole vehicle screaming down the road. As Jenny expertly controlled the van around the corners, she noticed that her computer was visually mapping out the best driving line on the road ahead of her. Heeding the advice her own systems were giving her, she followed the line as best she could, accelerating and braking as required. As she began to approach the next turn, another widget on her HUD suddenly began beeping. Giving it focus, she noticed it animating the next series of turns, with the Tornado hot on her heels. Giving her driving sub-system and the widget each 50% of her processor, she focused her attention on the animation again. As it came around to a elongated turn that was further ahead in reality, it showed her that they wouldn't make the turn. The tornado would catch up, and they'd be doomed.

"Oh shit...oh SHIT!" Jenny shouted over the roaring, prompting everyone to panic (except her mother, who was shocked over hearing her Daughter cuss in-front of her). "Leo, there is a massive turn coming up, and-"

"We won't make the turn, I know!" Leo replied, formulating a plan in his head. A few seconds later, he shouted to her again. "Whats the distance between the two points of the road where a straight line would intersect them, and whats the air around us moving like?" Leo asked, still thinking.

"Are you seriously suggesting-? 1-in-100,000 chance! We'll never make it! And I'm being generous by rounding DOWN!" Jenny shouted back, shock replacing fear on her face.

"I know, but it's...our only option now!" Leo replied. Turning to everyone else, he began to tighten his seat belt. "If you haven't done up your seat belt, I'd do it now!" Leo shouted, as they approached the massive turn. As Jenny finished the turn just before, she slammed on the accelerator, ignoring her driving sub-system's warnings about overshooting the turn. As she got to a few feet before the guardrail, the others finally clued in and began to panic, shouting at her to stop, but the van burst through before anything could be done.

"Nooo!" Jenny shouted, once her systems calculated that they didn't have enough speed and lift to reach the other side. Just before the van slammed nose-first into the rocky ground below them, everything seemed to freeze in place with a sudden violent jerking.

"Thank Jobs! XJ-8 made it in the nick of time." Mrs. Wakeman mumbled, holding her chest and breathing heavily. Opening the side door, XJ-8 peered inside to see nearly everyone shaking like leaves. As Leo removed his hand from the imprint it made in the arm rest as he clung to it, he only noticed the low hum of XJ-8's boosters and the van's engine.

"Hold the phone...? What happened to the Tornado?" Leo asked, slowly peering out the side of the van to their rear, and noticed nothing but a clear view of the road that had just zipped down and the guardrail they had plowed through.

"XJ-8, what's the storm's readings?" Mrs. Wakeman asked the giant robot that was holding the van.

"Radial Core Vibrations Infra-sound: Null, Core Bursting Infra-sound: Null, Shear Instabilities Infra-sound: Null, Boundary Layer Instabilities Infra-sound: Null. Overall Tornadic infrasonic signature has dissipated, storm system is decaying. First test of Wakeman Storm Seeding and Monitoring Device is a success." XJ-8 replied in her usual monotone, reverb voice.

"So...we're not gonna die, in other words?" Brad asked, looking for a nice answer.

"No, Brad. We get to go home and sleep." Jenny answered shakily, pulling bits of the crushed steering wheel from her hands.

"Alright, lets go home then, XJ-8." Mrs. Wakeman asked her daughter. Once the van was headed back towards Tremorton, there was a collective sigh amongst everyone inside the van.

"So, uhm...what's going to happen to us?" The male Kitaki twin suddenly asked, prompting Mrs. Wakeman to turn around with a powerful glare and stared at the twins.

"You two are going to become temporary residents of my research laboratory. I'm going to need your assistance in detecting more of these freak storms, and why they are even appearing." Mrs. Wakeman replied with a tone that implied argument would not be tolerated. So the twins simply gulped and looked towards the floor nervously. Brad looked over at Misty for a moment when he heard her make a quiet sigh, to which Brume attempted to comfort her. He looked over at Leo for an explanation, who waved Brad off, sighing himself, and then looked out the side door at the landscape flying by them with a sad expression. Panning his vision back across the van, Brad's eye landed upon the twins and his mind suddenly raced.

"Wait a sec, you two control weather...so unless you two caused that, why didn't you simply stop the system yourselves?" Brad suddenly asked the twins, who looked at him seriously for a moment before the boy replied.

"Me and my sister can only cause small, local disturbances." he explained quickly, his sister explaining further.

"The amount of effort it would take us to create that sort of imbalance would kill us and then some. Essentially: my Brother and I would die before we could make something of that magnitude." the girl finished, staring deeply at Brad, making him squirm a bit.

"Here's a question then: Was that natural?" Brume suddenly asked from one of the back corners of the van. The two twins closed their eyes for a moment in thought, and then shook their heads and spoke in unison.

"Natural occurrence for a tornado in the winter seasons is incredibly rare, almost unheard of." They both said, to which Mrs. Wakeman 'hmm'ed and nodded in agreement.

"So thats why you made that thing on XJ-8's back?" Jenny asked her mother.

"Yes, XJ-9, that would be exactly why. I've been tracking these freak occurrences with the help of your...aunt" Mrs. Wakeman explained, hesitant to mention her sister, whom she was on rough terms with. "We've come to the same conclusion: something odd is going on. For the storm systems, Solar output is normal, as are temperatures prior to the sudden spike in energy detected before said storms occur. For the earthquakes, to which we've been blessedly spared from, some do bare natural indicators that they were going to occur."

"Except a select few, huh?" Jenny answered for her mother, almost reading her mother's mind as she pondered the events. Mrs. Wakeman nodded in reply, and continued to speak.

"Indeed. A small number of earthquakes came without warning to areas of the world that have some of the most advanced detection equipment available. Literally, no indicators existed for them! It's almost as if the plates were pushed apart and then let go by unseen hands! It's enough to make MY head spin!" Mrs. Wakeman finished, placing emphasis on the final phrase. Not unwarranted, as most people in the vehicle revered Mrs. Wakeman's logic and intelligence. The van fell silent for a moment. As everyone was thinking of a theory to explain away the events, a loud series of beeps came from Leo's watch. When he didn't react to it, Sheldon reached over and shook his shoulder, trying to get his attention.

"Hey, Leo, your watch is going off. Leo? ...Le-OOH!" Sheldon let out a gasp when Leo finally turned to him, his outburst getting everyone's attention. The color from his face had partially drained away, which gave his eyes a slightly sunken yet puffy look to them. The two looked at each other for a moment, and Leo turned his attention to his watch, moving his good arm stiffly to it to switch it off.

"Don't worry, I'm fine...just tired. We need some sleep after all...school tomorrow and all." Leo attempted to brush them off, but Brad didn't let it down so easily.

"Dude, you look terrible! You look like someone with a really bad flu, are you sure you are okay?" Brad asked him, concerned for Leo's well-being. Leo sighed in an annoyed manner, thought for a quick second, and then answered.

"Yeah, I'm a little sick. I've gone to a doctor already, though. He gave me some medicine and told me to keep a tight sleep schedule. Don't worry, I'm not going to drop dead or anything." Leo answered gruffly. Everyone but Brad and Jenny accepted the answer, and then turned to thinking about sleep, which wasn't far away as the street Brad and the Wakeman family resided on was within view. Without letting anyone know, Jenny switched her internal SMART-E on and did a scan on Leo. As it began to sort through a list of diagnoses, the SMART-E suddenly complained of unknown interference, and gave her a number for a local hospital to get help. Seeing Brad staring at her, she turned her gaze to him and gave him a confused stare. Just as the van bumped into the ground, Brad nodded at her in a silent agreement to meet later. Mrs. Wakeman got up from the front passenger seat and looked towards Brad and Sheldon.

"You two should hurry on home now. I'm sure your family members are worried about you, the appearance of the tornado won't have gone unnoticed by the town." Mrs. Wakeman advised the two boys, who nodded and left the van silently. Leo followed them, but once he left the van, he went inside the Wakeman house instead. Once they left, Mrs. Wakeman looked towards Brume and Misty. "I'm assuming you two have a place to stay? I can arrange for transport if you like." Mrs. Wakeman began, but Misty interjected before she said much more.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to stay close to these two." Misty spoke, in her usual confident tone, as she pointed towards the twins. Adopting a lighter tone of voice, she explained her request. "Mrs. Wakeman, with Jenny off her game...I don't think she could contain them alone." she finished, casting a glance after Leo quickly, who was just entering the house, before returning her gaze to Mrs. Wakeman, who was wearing and frown and staring at her. Mrs. Wakeman thought for a moment, and then spoke.

"Well, she wouldn't be alone with her sister's, and I'm sure the nine of them could contain them. But...I'll heed your request and allow you two to stay the night at-least." Mrs. Wakeman answered, nodding her head, as Jenny's face sprouted a look of extreme discomfort at the prospect of sharing her house with Misty. Thanking Mrs. Wakeman, Misty and Brume got up and began yanking the protesting twins into the house, XJ-8 escorting them to the basement laboratory 6, which housed a cell. Mrs. Wakeman exited the van, which Jenny followed right afterwards.

"Mom-" Jenny began to say, before being promptly cut off by Mrs. Wakeman.

"Jennifer, I need you to set aside your disagreement with Misty for now. At least until I get to the bottom of these anomalies. I have a bad feeling deep in my bones that we're going to need as much assistance as we can get for the next little while, and I can't shake it." Mrs. Wakeman asked Jenny quietly, having turned to her and grasping one of her hands. Jenny was taken aback slightly by her Mother's behavior, having called her by her self designated name as apposed to her model designation. But she was mostly unnerved by her Mother's uncertainty, as her Mom always knew what to do, and what needed to be done. Looking at her, Jenny nodded without saying a word, and then walked with Mrs. Wakeman up and into the house.

* * *

"So whats the story with those two? I thought Misty was banned from Tremorton or something?" Tucker asked his older Brother, who was waiting infront of his house for Leo and Jenny to walk with him to School. Seeing them in the distance, Brad waved at them, and the duo waved back, and then began to run up the sidewalk. Looking back towards his little Brother, Brad answered his question.

"Well, yeah, she was. Mrs. Wakeman is being her usual self in being bent on educating children, so she is going to bat for her. Brume is going to stay with Misty until they found out if she can come back to Tremorton High." Brad explained, finishing just as Jenny and Leo met up with them. Leo was panting heavily once they stopped, bending over while clasping his hands on his knees.

"Oh, Leo, if you couldn't run, you shouldn't have! I would've walked you know!" Jenny spoke furiously to the heaving pile of winter clothes.

"I'd...run just fine...if you didn't...force me to wear...three coats!" Leo shouted back in between gasps. Jenny grumbled a bit and crossed her arms.

"It's only the end of January, it's cold out, and you are sick. I'll nurse you back to health at home all day if I have to." Jenny told Leo with a strong tone of authority. Leo simply grumbled in response, which caused Brad and Tucker to burst out laughing. "Oh, hey Tuck! Doesn't Brad walk you to school early? Aren't you going to be late for school now?" Jenny asked Tucker, worried that he might get in trouble.

"Naw, I take the bus again." Tucker answered quickly, as he began to stomp his foot on some thin sidewalk ice. Jenny looked towards Brad for a more in depth answer, to which he obliged.

"Mom and Dad finally 'found the time' to pay for Tucker's bus fees for this school year. 'We're only half done the year, guys!'." Brad finished airily, as if shouting to his parents. Jenny frowned, as she never did like Brad's parents. They always left most of the work of raising Tucker to him and were out of the country most of the time. She did find it fair, then, that they didn't actually like her either. Brad didn't care for their opinion though, and the two typically ignore his parents unless they were needed (when they were around). As Jenny thought about this, an internal bulletin message popped up on her HUD, causing her surprised when she read it.

"Oh, hey Brad, did you remember the...uhh...'thing'?" Jenny asked. "You know, the 'thing'...in your house?" She explained, thumbing towards his house. Giving her a weird look and shrugging, Brad was at a loss for words. She gripped his arm and quickly began walking towards his house. "Let's go look for it then, I'm sure it's in your room or something." Jenny said in a suspicious tone. Leo and Tucker began to follow the two towards the house, and Jenny turned to them. "No, no! You two just wait out here, we won't be long!" Jenny shouted as they stepped into the house. Leo and Tucker looked at each other, each with a raised eyebrow. Shrugging, they began a small conversation of their own.

"What the heck are you talking about? What 'thing'?" Brad finally asked Jenny once they stepped into his room.

"Nothing, that was something I made up. I wanted to quickly talk about last night." Jenny explained, to which Brad remember the glances they exchanged, prompting him to nod.

"Right, yeah, so what did you find? I remembered that you have one of those SMART-E things inside you." Brad asked.

"Absolutely nothing. Besides what I guess you could call TV snow. That's the easiest way to describe it." Jenny told him, a worried look on her face. Brad thought for a moment, and then grasped one of her shoulders.

"While that's weird, maybe he made some sort of blocking device for himself? Just wants a bit of privacy with his health. He did help make the SMART-E, after all." Brad tried to ease Jenny's worries, but she shook her head.

"I've thought of that. If that's the case, don't you find it odd? What does he not want me to see? What if he is actually really sick and is putting on a show?" Jenny suggested to Brad, growing more frantic as more and more scenarios formed themselves in her CPU. She was surprised suddenly when Brad simply hugged her, calming her almost instantly. The two sharing the hug for a moment, Brad spoke to her quietly.

"In the short time we've known him, Leo has always been very private. Leave it be, Jen. Let him have his privacy, if that's what he wants. If he finds it in himself to open up to us more than he has, that's fine. Until then, let's simply hang out with him and have fun, okay?" Brad suggested. Jenny stared at him for a moment and then gave him a sad smile.

"You know, you're actually pretty wise sometimes, Brad." Jenny told him, to which he smiled back, and then gave her an annoyed look.

"Hey, 'sometimes'? Aren't I always wise?" Brad pouted, to which Jenny giggled and began to leave his room.

"We should head back out now. I still want to keep an eye on him, even though he won't let us know whats really wrong." Jenny said to Brad as she descended the staircase and went out the front door. Quickly following her, he got outside in time to see Tucker boarding his school bus. He quickly stopped to wave at his older brother and Jenny, and then continued up the steps once the doors closed and the bus began moving. Brad quickly joined Leo and Jenny, and the trio made their way towards the high school. The three discussed various school subjects, gave answers to homework the other neglected to do, and managed to throw in a bit of gossip as well.

"I'm wondering how Prima is going to play off taking off on you last night..." Leo trailed off in his thoughts, directing his speech to Jenny. When she suddenly stopped, and began glaring at him and Brad (who was cursing Leo under his breath), he realized he might have made an amazingly bad decision to bring the previous night up.

"Actually, I wondered why you guys showed up. I didn't have time to question it then, and after the tornado it got pushed to the back of my task list. What the hell were you guys and my Mom doing there?" Jenny growled at the boys. "And YOU TOO!" Jenny shouted at a surprised and now extremely-concerened-for-his-wellbeing Sheldon. "Why did you follow Don and me?" She demanded an answer from the three now-cowering boys.

"_The Krust Cousins were planning to ruin your date so we tried_-!" Sheldon began to spill out his excuse for the three of them, but once Jenny processed the first five words, a look of extreme rage took over her face.

"Those girls are DEAD." Jenny said quietly, as she began to tremble and walk towards school. Every step she took shook the ground and made cracks in the sidewalk. As the three boys watched in awe, she suddenly burst into a sprint, causing the sidewalk under her to buckle.

"Oh man, the Krust cousins are gonna get it! We have to get to school before Jen does!" Brad shouted at the other two, who simply stood for a moment, and scrabbled at their watches in a panicked manner.

"We'll NEVER catch up to Jenny. Those girls will be brown bread before we even get onto the same city block as the school." Leo explained as he and Sheldon kept pounding on a button on their watches. Suddenly, a holographic image popped up from their watches containing an unhappy Mrs. Wakeman.

"Yes, boys? Is this important? I'm in the middle of a meeting with your school's vice principle." Mrs. Wakeman answered their hail.

"Condition Omega!" The two boys cried, prompting a confused look from Brad. Mrs. Wakeman suddenly became more interested, but didn't share their worry.

"Really? That's interesting...no alerts came up on my end...I'll have the debug that I guess."

"Why do you care about a few software glitches! Jenny took off like a rocket with murder on her face! You have to hide the Krust Cousins!"

"Hm? Oh, don't worry. They're actually in here. Shaking like leaves now, but..they're here. Besides, You'll see XJ-9 a few blocks away anyways." Mrs. Wakeman told the two boys, who were more confused than panicked now. "Go take a look for yourselves. Let me know what you find." Mrs. Wakeman finished, before she killed the connection. Leo and Sheldon looked at each other, and then to Brad.

"Well...uhh...let's go to school. Fastest route, as I'm sure Jen would've taken that one.." Brad suggested to the other two, who nodded in agreement. After turning the corner and following broken and strewn sidewalk for about three blocks, the boys noticed Jenny's winter coat on the ground by the park entrance. Looking around, Sheldon noticed a plume of steam rising into the air from the park's pond. The three boys rushed over to the pond to see Jenny wading in the middle of it, looking absolutely exhausted.

"So...hot...I need SNOW!" Jenny shouted, suddenly jumping out of the water, diving headfirst into a tall bank of snow. Brad slowly and carefully peaked his head into the small tunnel made by Jenny, and witnessed her attempting to rub snow wherever her skin was exposed.

"So, what did you find?" Brad could suddenly hear Mrs. Wakeman's voice from behind him.

"Jen is...thrashing around in the snow like a wounded animal. She just got out from the pond, too." Brad described. He turned around expecting to see Mrs. Wakeman in person again, but it was simply the holographic image again. The image from Leo's watch turned to look at Sheldon. "Mr. Lee, remember that tool I handed you about a week ago? Go and connect it anywhere on exposed skin." Mrs. Wakeman commanded. Once Jenny plowed herself out of the snow in search of something to cool her down faster, Sheldon jabbed her slightly exposed waist. The blue meter on the top of the device quickly emptied to nothing, and Jenny froze on the spot.

"Oh man, that feels...amazing...who did that?" Jenny groggily asked aloud. See Sheldon still holding the device in his hand, She latched herself onto him and repeatedly kissed him on the cheek while mumbling 'Thank you' in between each kiss. Quickly after a few kisses, however, she seemed to shut down suddenly and laid down on the frozen ground, eye closed. Sheldon quickly went to the ground as well, but with a less graceful 'THUD!', still holding onto the device with an iron vice grip.

"What...what the hell was that?" Brad asked Mrs. Wakeman, flabbergasted.

"Portable super-cooled coolant device. To get it to work right now, I had to do some shoddy hack and slash software editing, hence why she seemed drugged for a moment and then shut down." Mrs. Wakeman explained.

"Really? Fastest shutdown I've ever seen an automaton do.." Leo replied to Mrs. Wakeman, staring at the still Jenny laying on the ground.

"Well...more correctly, her core processes...crashed. Hence my comment about it being 'Hack and Slash'. She'll be rebooting right now." Mrs. Wakeman replied, visibly embarrassed.

"Oh...I see." Leo replied quietly. The following silence deafening, Leo asked Mrs. Wakeman another question. "What caused the massive spurt in speed? I noticed her eyes changed from blue to red as well?" Leo probed.

"It's a long and complicated answer, I'll let you know in a bit. As for the eyes, I'm not certain. I didn't intend for an eye color change to occur." Mrs. Wakeman answered. Indicating she needed to get back to the meeting, she and Leo exchanged farewells.

"Uhh...what happened? Why am I on the ground?" Jenny asked while sitting up, utterly confused. Noticing Sheldon on the ground beside her, Jenny began prodding him. "And why is he out cold beside me?"

"Well, he jabbed you with that coolant thingy in his hand, and then..." Brad trailed off, unsure if he should continue.

"And then what? I know there is more, tell me." Jenny pressed Brad.

"You sorta...went all wonky and kissed his cheek like, six times? Then you laid on the ground and shut down." Brad explained. Jenny cringed when she heard the word 'kiss'.

"Ugh...lets get to school. I'm freezing." Jenny complained. When she looked over at Leo, he had removed one of his three jackets she forced him to wear, and slipped it over her own jacket. "I'll take your jacket only because I feel like a mechanical ice cube. You'd better be wearing it when we go home." Jenny grumbled at Leo, who shook his head while smiling.

* * *

Jenny was quickly back into her clothes just before first period, as the school had a set of 10 second dryers in the Home-Ec room, which was normally reserved for seniors. She was still fuming as she entered the classroom. Getting out her textbooks for English class, she hadn't noticed Don approach her desk.

"Hey doll, why the long face? Did you miss me?" Don asked her in his usual smooth voice, prompting Brad (who was sitting beside her), to roll his eyes and look at Leo, who was sitting on his other side. When Jenny simply scowled at Don, he lost track of where he was headed for a moment, and then continued his attempt to smooth things over. "Look, I'm sorry I had to jet last night, but something important came up. Want to try again tonight?" Don asked, winking at her.

"No." Jenny told him flatly, throwing him right off his game, but Don recovered quickly.

"Aww, come on babe, don't be like tha-" Don had begun, but Leo cut him off.

"Don, she said she wasn't interested. Move on." Leo told him while sitting in his seat, both him and Brad glaring at Don. The other students in the room heard the commotion, and got ready to watch a fight. Licking his lips, Don walked over to Leo and grabbed him by the collar.

"Was I talking to you, Silva? Did I even look at you? No." Don said to him aggressively. The rest of the students started to chant 'fight!' over and over again.

"Don, let go of me right now, and this ends as is." Leo told him quietly. Jenny was slowly getting up, in case she needed to intervene, as no Teacher was yet present in the room.

"In case you haven't noticed, I've got a grip on your shirt collar. I'm also the Boxing team captain. Last I saw and heard, you actually stated that you couldn't fight." Don said to Leo, as he begun to actually pull him off the floor.

"Don, today is already bad enough for me. I'm sick, today is the anniversary of something awful, and you have succeeded in pissing me right off. End this. Now." Leo told Don, keeping his cool and aggravating Don even further.

"You have no platform the be talking so disrespectfully like that, Silva. Lemme give you an appetizer as to why I'm number one." Don said to Leo with increasing aggression. When Don brought his right arm back to make a punch at Leo's face, there was a flurry of motion as Leo brought both his arms slamming down on Don's, ripping his grip away. Not wasting the confusion, Leo raised his left arm to block Don's delayed punch, allowing him an easy opening for a palm strike to Don's face. As Don bumped into a desk behind him, Leo grabbed his left arm, swung his own left fist at him, and proceeded to send wallop after wallop into Don's gut, prompting him to yelp in pain. Leo screamed at Don, who's nose was bleeding profusely over the desk. As he wound up for another strike at Don, Leo suddenly found himself yanked off Don with extreme force. Turning to look at his side, he found that Jenny was the one who pulled him off Don.

"Calm down, Leo! My god, you're like...somebody else right now!" Jenny shouted at him, visibly upset, and a little frightened of his extreme response to Don. She walked over to Don, who was hunched over, and gave him a cloth for the bleeding. As She began to talk him to the Nurses office, Don turned to look at Leo.

"Silva, you're going to regret this." Don threatened him, to which Jenny forcefully yanked him out the door, and Leo shouted after him.

"Don't let me down, now!" He yelled back sarcastically. Grunting angrily as he sat back into his desk and pulled out his English books, he turned to Brad. "Hey, you got the answer to the final question for the homework we got? Couldn't find the answer." Leo asked. Brad almost chucked his book and Leo, and leaned away from him slightly, as if he expected to have to dodge an attack from Leo. Sighing, Leo flipped open Brad's textbook to find the answer, and copied it down.

* * *

As first period finished, and second period came and went, Leo found that almost everyone was distancing themselves from him. They were also staring if they thought he couldn't see. Annoyed by Brad's reaction to him during English class, and a little ashamed that Jenny had to pull him off Don, he ended up taking his food from the cafeteria to the rooftop of the school, and ate up there, on the edge of the building, in silence.

"Man, he is a lot more private than I thought.." Brad said to Jenny, as the two of them and Sheldon ate in the cafeteria. "What, with saying he can't fight, and then that thing with Misty and now Don. He's got like a 'Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass' technique going on, just without the 'Moron' part." Brad spoke his mind aloud.

"That's debatable. He's managed to piss off every sports team that Don is a part of, which is to say, every single sports team in Tremorton High. All the jocks are gunning for him now. On the moron scale, I'd say that's pretty high." Jenny countered, to which Sheldon agreed.

"Yeah, doing something like that was a little...no, it was extremely illogical." Sheldon said the Brad.

"I dunno, though. I'm sure most people, including the jocks, are probably thinking 'If he could do that to Don so easily, what makes it impossible for him to do the same to me?'. He's got a pretty good following of respect as well." Brad explained his thinking. "Course, it's mostly due to fear mongering, which isn't all that good.."

"Ugh...he doesn't make complete sense anymore. He keeps brushing off anything to do with him from before we met! What doesn't he want us to know?" Jenny groaned. She was really concerned about Leo, what with him being sick, and keeping his past mostly to himself. Accessing her database, she shockingly only found a few items that she knew about his past. "You know what we know of his past, guys? That he used to be a Skyway Patrol mechanic, that he was involved in a secret Skyway Patrol project or two, He was nearly killed by a girlfriend in the past, and that he must have trained in combat extensively in the past. That's pretty much it." Jenny told the two boys, as she rested her cheeks on her palms. "We knew nothing of his family, nothing of his ambitions, very little of his health, and he rarely displays how he really felt about any given subject. It's insane that we know so little about him, and how even when we ask, he manages to avoid the question. Usually without detection."

"He wasn't always like that." Misty was heard saying from behind her. Jenny turned around to take a look at her, and saw that Brume was with her. "Would we...be able to sit with you guys? I can tell you a little bit about him.." Misty offered as bait, knowing that Jenny wouldn't be able to resist. Jenny nodded curtly.

"Yeah, fine, sit down." Jenny replied gruffly, not waiting for an answer to come from Sheldon or Brad. Nodding, Misty and Brume situated themselves between Brad and Sheldon. "Well? What do you know? I dunno what to do about Leo, and I wonder if learning about his past would even help, but all the same...maybe it will?" Jenny finished with a question. Misty nodded, and then looked at Brume.

"Sorry, I don't know much about him except that you've been wanting to find him for a while." Brume told her, prompting Misty to nod.

"Okay...well, lets see...I met him when I was 9. He was really good at paperwork and logistics apparently, so his Sister convinced her superiors to bring him along with her to Rinjak during it's civil war. She was part of some sort of elite team, which spearheaded the campaign to beat the rebels back. It was mostly free to do as it found necessary to make sure my family was safe, but it was still snarled up by the bureaucracy from time to time, so it wasn't completely effective. Due to that, the squad's leader convinced my parents that I should be hidden away, so I found myself living with Leo and Sereena." Misty was explaining. When she noticed the curiosity on Jenny's face, she continued. "Sorry, Sereena was the name of Leo's sister. Anyways, I lived with them for about half a year. I learned all sorts of random facts about him, like how he loves pineapple, and hates Spaghetti. Said he found it slimy. Guess it turned him off." Misty reminisced, a smile on her face.

"Misty, earlier today, just before Leo went ballistic on Don, he mentioned that today was the 'anniversary of something awful'. Any idea what that is?" Jenny asked her. Misty's face went dark, and she nodded slowly.

"It's an awful anniversary for the both of us. Today is the anniversary that my-" Misty was beginning to say, when there was a sudden rumbling of the floor, and it sounded like a freight train was rolling by outside the school. Things all over the school were bouncing around and dishes could be heard shattering against the floor. Jenny was probing her proximity radar, looking for a threat, when a lone message appeared in red, partially encased by a yellow triangle on her HUD: '!Earthquake!'

"EARTHQUAKE! Everyone get under the TABLES!" Jenny shouted to the rest of her classmates, just as some of the tiles from the ceiling of the cafeteria came crashing down. Some walls around them cracked and broke, and at one point the northeast corner of the cafeteria roof collapsed slightly, raining down on a table that housed a number of students. Just as Jenny was getting frantic, as she heard the rest of the building groaning under fatigue, the earthquake stopped.

"Jen, the people who were sitting there-!" Brad began to shout, before Jenny threw the table out of the way, and began remove the rubble of the collapsed roof. Helping some students out from under the table, she noticed one looked to be in pain. After a quick SMART-E scan, it gave her a diagnosis.

"Hold still, you fractured your Ulna. Let me sling it for you." Jenny told the girl with a soothing voice. After using some fabric stored in a portable first aid kit that was stored in her, Jenny finished the sling. "There...now, let me help you out." Jenny spoke to the shocked student, easing them out from under the table. As she braced the injured girl, she looked up and around and saw that most of the students who got out from under their tables were staring at her. Sighing with relief, she was about to lead the student to the nurses office when the building let out another loud groan and shifted, prompting a few more ceiling tiles to fall, along with alot of dust. "Everyone, get the hell out of here! This place could collapse at any point!" She shouted, and everyone but those at her own table and the girl she was helping scurried out of the cafeteria. "Misty, Brume, we need to go looking throughout the rest of the school making sure no one else is trapped or hurt!" Jenny commanded more than asked, but the two nodded all the same, and turned to clouds to easily worm their way through the rubble to get a head start. "Brad, Sheldon, get out! Now!" Jenny shouted at the remaining two. The two of them hesitated, worried about Jenny's energy level. Sighing, she opened a cavity in her right palm and jettisoned a device to them, which Brad caught. "You can keep an eye on my status with that. See? I'm fine. Now, GO!" Jenny shouted at them again, this time they listened.

"Brad, let's see if we can't get that exosuit onto you, then we can do a patrol around town, in case people need help!" Sheldon shouted as the two of them ran down the hallway. Even though the cold air rushing around him around the hallways that were partially broken to the outside, Brad was frantic to find out about the safety of his brother. Glancing back to the device that he was holding in his hand, he also found himself scared that Jenny wouldn't be able to keep up with the constant debris removal, or that she herself might get pinned by shifting rubble. He shook his head suddenly, remembering, that while she still didn't quite have the strength of a million and seventy men back, she was still quite capable to getting out of the debris. This thought made him calm down a bit. As he steeled himself for the potential carnage that waited outside, he suddenly hear a familiar voice shouting out from above the side entrance.

* * *

"Ugh...I shouldn't have snapped like that. Everyone thinks I'm some sort of crazy lunatic now." Leo complained to no one as he leaned against the fence the surrounded the rooftop, placed to ensure no one fell off the building to their death. He suddenly heard a distant boom which perked his interest, which was quickly lost when he didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. Sighing, he was pushing himself off the fence when he suddenly felt an intense and dramatic shaking and swaying. Instantly aware of what was occurring, he began to stumble towards the entrance to the staircase, when a small part of the wall of the school gave way, causing the portion of the roof he was on to fall at a steep angle. Panicking, he scrabbled to grab at anything as he quickly began to slide off the school. He managed to grab hold of the now exposed bottom of the fence, which partly gave way to his weight and caused him to swing away from the roof slightly. "AH!, Oh, shit, huh, haaah...calm down, calm down.." Leo had commanded himself, and began taking deep breaths. Finally calm, he began to plot his escape from the situation. Looking at how he was holding onto the now weakened fence, he decided his only hope was to try to swing from the pole he was gripping. There was a catch, though: if he swung too hard, he was certain he'd break the pole he hung from, and fall to his death. If he swung too little, he'd really only save the school a few dollars in cleanup and repair. Laughing nervously to himself, he began to slowly swing himself. As he zeroed in on the ledge, however, he hadn't noticed the large crack that was forming in the cement of the ledge that the fence was attached to. Taking one last look before he made his first large swing, he noticed the crack too late and couldn't stop himself in time. Once he made his move, the ledge finally failed, and the pole he was holding onto went vertical. Screaming in his panic, he managed to maintain an iron-vice grip on the pole, which the morbid assembly of chunks of cement and fence quickly stopped ripping out quickly after the initial failure of the ledge. Scared, Leo made a fatal mistake and looked towards the ground in a staring match. Before he could stop it, his imagination projected how he fell, and the gut-wrenching crunch his body would make when it the ground 4 stories below, and how blood would spout from his mouth when it happened. His current situation reminded him of one in the past which was eerily similar, where is was nearly certain of his death then, which was the same day that he did die a little. Memories and fear clouding his mind, Leo's panic grew to extreme levels and he began to scream and shout. "HOLY FUCK, SOMEONE HELP ME! AAH, I'M GONNA LOSE MY GRIP! I'M GONNA DIE! HELP!"

* * *

When Brad saw Leo clinging onto a lone pipe of metal 4 stories in the air, his gut dropped.

"Oh GOD DAMN, Sheldon, LOOK UP!" Brad shouted. Sheldon glanced up, and his mouth dropped open.

"We have to help him, hurry! We have to find Jenny and Misty!" Sheldon shouted, yanking on Brad's sweater. The two boys ran as hard and as fast as their bodies could take them, and looked into every room they saw open on their way to the fifth floor. As Brad glanced into a classroom on the 2nd floor that was on the same side that Leo was fighting for his life, he saw Brume and Misty patching up some students.

"Misty! Leo is stuck hanging from a pole on the roof, look outside!" Brad screamed without warning. Once she understood what he said, Misty's eyes grew wide and fearful, and she ran over to the window and looked up to see Leo at the end of the pole, hanging by only one hand, and shouting frantically.

"Misty, lets head up and get him!" Brume had shouted at her, to which she suddenly shouted 'NO!' as she watched Leo's final grip give and him plummeting to the ground. As he quickly neared the window, she leap out of it, attempting to catch him. All the three boys saw was a mid-air collision between the two of them, which sent them tumbling into the small tree patch near the school. Without waiting, Brume grabbed the collars of Brad and Sheldon's shirts, then ran and jumped out the window into the snow after Misty. The three boys running towards where the two if them landed, they could hear Leo continuing to scream incomprehensibly, and Misty pleading for him to collect himself.

"Leo, please calm down! You're fine now! Everything is over!" Misty attempted to calm Leo. Once the three of them got full sight of what was going on, Leo had both his hands clutching his face, his eyes were wide open, and he was continuing to scream as if someone was stabbing him with a hot poker, as Misty had him propped up on her lap trying to calm him. Brad rushed over, and began to shack Leo lightly and join Misty in pleading for him to stop. "Go find Jenny and Mrs. Wakeman!" Misty shouted at Brume, who nodded and quickly turned into smoke as he zipped into the school. Eventually, the screaming caused a crowd to gather around Leo, with people becoming scared of what was happening to Leo. What was mere seconds and felt like long moments, Brume returned, and Jenny, followed by Mrs. Wakeman, could be seen running towards them through the crowd's legs.

"Let me thought! LET ME THROUGH!" Jenny frantically shouted, attempting to be heard over over the crowd and Leo's own shouting. She finally managed to burst thought the final ring of students, and as she got a glimpse of what was going on, she gasped. Rushing over to kneel beside Brume, she looked at Leo as he continued to grip his face, stare towards the ground and shout in agony. "Mom, where are you? Come here, I don't understand whats wrong! Please, you have to do something!" Jenny shouted frantically over Leo's screams, tears building in her eyes. Mrs. Wakeman shoved the other students aside as she rushed to help. Shooing Brad and Jenny aside, she cupped his head and looked into his eyes, thought for a moment, and then spoke loudly.

"His mind seems to be suffering a complete loss of composure and control! Whatever happened to him now has triggered multiple horrific memories!" Mrs. Wakeman explained to everyone around her. Looking back to Leo with a look of fear, she tried to get his attention herself. " Leo, listen to me! You must exit your memories! Come back to us in the here and now! Leo!" Mrs. Wakeman shouted at Leo. His screams suddenly died to a whimper, and he immediately passed out. Scared out of her wits, Jenny began crying and buried her face into Brad's shoulder, who grabbed her into a hug, tears in his own eyes. As paramedic's finally arrived, they placed him onto a stretcher. "The hospitals will be overflowing with patients, take him to my house! I can look after him there!" Mrs. Wakeman told the man and woman, who nodded in agreement. Jenny, the rest of her friends, and the onlookers watched as Leo was carted away with Mrs. Wakeman to her house.

"What is happening to our world..?" Brad asked no one in particular, as Jenny's tears fell onto his sweater and froze in the cold air.


	22. 22 - Night of the Living Leo

When suppertime rolled around, everyone around the table was quiet. Brad was poking at a meatball that was on his plate, moving is back and forth with his fork. Sheldon hadn't even touched any of his food, as he was in his seat, brooding over some thoughts that wouldn't leave him alone. Misty and Brume were not present, as they ended up staying at the end of town hit hard by the earthquake late to help with a final sweep, looking for survivors. Jenny was upstairs, making sure the still unconscious Leo was in bed comfortably, and was talking with his Doctor, who had arrived to assess his condition. Mrs. Wakeman was probably the only one who had eaten the most out of them all, save for Tucker who was on his third helping.

"I don't get it, why are you guys not eating?" Tucker asked them all. Brad smiled meekly, and patted his younger brother's head.

"We ate earlier, so we're not that hungry. Go ahead and eat up." Brad lied to Tucker. Truth is, none of them had much of an appetite after seeing Leo suffering that badly. However, because they didn't want to frighten young Tuck, they simply told him that Leo was getting a bit sicker than he already was. Tucker simply shrugged, and then nabbed some more food. The group at the dinner table heard the front door open and Jenny's voice bidding the Doctor farewell. Quietly, she came and sat at the table, while holding a small, orange, and translucent bottle in her hands, and looked as if she was studying the bottle's label.

"Once every day, before 11:00 PM. If administered late, side effects such as fatigue, stiffness, and irritability make occur." Jenny recited the text.

"That explains a lot of what we saw today..." Sheldon offered, as way of attempting to jump start a conversation.

"Yeah, but not what we want to know." Brad finished instead. Thinking for a moment, Brad looked at Mrs. Wakeman. "Mrs. W, you were really high ranked in Skyway Patrol, couldn't you search Leo up and see what he did?" Brad asked her.

"I'm sorry if you got your hopes up, but I've already tried. I got in touch with a contact, and he let me know that his personnel file is actually locked, and even slated for deletion. Of what he went through in his past, I don't know anymore than any of you do." Mrs. Wakeman explained in a depressed tone. Jenny noticed that her Mother really took a liking to Leo, and so she wasn't too surprised to see her bent up over his current state.

"One person knows more than we do. I know that much." Jenny replied, to which everyone, save for Brad, looked at her with confusion.

"Misty. She was telling Jen about him before the earthquake hit. By the way, was that quake natural?" Brad asked Mrs. Wakeman, who frowned and then shrugged.

"Impossible to tell. It's been so long since we've had our last quake, no one had detection equipment handy to make a warning call, if it was natural. We should at least count ourselves lucky that no one died from it, and that damage was so contained. Now, you were saying that Misty knew him in the past?" Mrs. Wakeman asked. Jenny, Sheldon, and Brad nodded in unison.

"Yeah. Leo mentioned during first period that today was an anniversary of something terrible. Misty was about to explain to us, when-" Jenny had begun to say, when a weak rumbling went off in the ground for a few seconds, causing everyone to tense up.

"Don't worry, that was just an aftershock. We'll probably feel a few more of those later. You were saying, dear?" Mrs. Wakeman looked expectantly to Jenny.

"Yeah, well, just that: Misty was about to tell us something, but the earthquake hit. Actually, she did mention...that it was a bad day for the pair of them." Jenny trailed off, as she glanced at Brad. As Mrs. Wakeman was nodding, the front door suddenly swung open, and Brume, wearing a panicked look on his face, carried a seemingly sleeping Misty in his arms.

"Please, Madam, she needs help!" Brume pleaded as he looked towards Mrs. Wakeman. Jenny got up and took a look at Misty, who was bleeding from a wound on her head.

"What the hell happened? Hold her still..." Jenny asked Brume, as she began disinfecting and bandaging Misty's head.

"We were just released from patrol, when Misty heard a guy shouting for help from a badly damaged building. When she went in through the collapsed corner of the building, some guy in a black-ish robe, like a monk's robe, hopped up out of nowhere, and slammed down on part of the roof she was under. It fell right on her, and she ended up buried. I chased the guy for a bit, but...he got away. When I noticed that she wasn't following after him either, I freaked out, went back, and found her bleeding and stumbling around." Brume explained, fearful for Misty's health. Jenny finished a suture on the gash on Misty's head, and then placed more bandages.

"Okay, well, it's not that bad, just a good gash. The stumbling was her just being dizzy from the pounding her head took. Bring her to my room, the bedroom you and her were using is still pretty beat up from the quake, but I managed to clean mine." Jenny told Brume, who nodded. The two of them walked up the staircase, as Jenny began to clean the blood from Misty's face using a wet cloth. Brad turned to Mrs. Wakeman, bearing a question.

"Could the SMART-E alter Jenny's personality?" Brad asked Mrs. Wakeman, curious to find out.

"Possibly. She was originally coded to have her code mutate, to simulate a growing and changing person. If I were to give a hypothesis of on your theory, I'd guess that if she were to use the internal SMART-E enough, she'd inherit traits from it's seperated AI. Why do you ask?" Mrs. Wakeman replied with a question of her own.

"I was just wondering. Before she was content on ensuring people were simply safe from further harm. Now, Jenny seems alot more concerened about people's health at the same time. What, with ensuring Leo wouldn't get a chill while he was sick, slinging that girl's arm, and now even offering her own bed to Misty while she stitched her wound and cleaned it." Brad observed. "Not only that, she suddenly knows advanced medical care."

"My gosh, you're right! I hadn't even batted an eye when she was suturing that gash! This deserves some research..." Mrs. Wakeman shouted suddenly, getting up from her chair and dashing into the nearby Laboratory entrance. Brad, Sheldon, and Tucker were all dumbfounded by this sudden burst of activity, but decided to ignore it anyways. Deciding they had finished with dinner, the three of them went upstairs to Jenny's room.

"Hey, Jenny? Is it okay if we come in?" Tucker asked innocently. They heard footsteps coming towards the door, and Jenny peek her head out to them.

"Hey guys, just wait out here. I'm in the middle of changing Misty into some PJs." Jenny told them.

"Wait, isn't Brume in there?" Sheldon asked. When Jenny jerked her head towards her personal Bathroom, the boys understood.

"Yeah, he is just getting some of her personal hygiene things together up here. Actually, I told him if he left the Bathroom, he'd be vaporized, so...he won't be leaving until it's all clear." Jenny explained, a smirk on her face. Sheldon looked at his wrist watch and then frowned slightly.

"Well, I'll head home now, I guess. It's getting late. See you guys tomorrow?" Sheldon asked, to which the trio nodded, and said their farewells. Brad turned his head back to Jenny.

"We should go home now, too. This little guy needs to sleep, cause his school didn't even get damaged." Brad said to Jenny, as he patted Tucker's head. Grumbling, Tucker slowly walked back towards the stairs. Jenny giggled slightly as she watched Tucker leave, and then looked back to Brad.

"Okay then, well, have a good night." Jenny told Brad calmly. Frowning a bit, she spoke again. "And be careful, okay...?" Jenny asked Brad with a hint of worry.

"I'll be careful. Don't worry about me now. Besides, you have two patients who you should worry about now." Brad told her, trying to ease any worries she may have. The two of them nodding to one another, Brad took off after Tucker, who was getting his winter gear on.

/*-*/n

'I have to warn someone! I can change this! I can make sure this never happens, because I have the knowledge!' Leo screamed to himself in his head. As he dashed from his quarters towards his Squad's rest area.

"Wow, Silva, whats with the rush dude?" a girl asked him from a bench, who swung her long, hot pink hair towards her front as she brushed it.

"Diana! We have to get ready for an ambush! We're about to be attacked by the Cluster!" Leo pleaded with the girl, who batted her brown eyes in disbelief, and then the emotion disappeared from her face and replaced with a smile.

"Isn't it awesome that the council has given us weekend leave?" Diana asked Leo, who suddenly became ridiculously confused.

"You did just hear me, right? The Cluster is going to ambush us!" Leo shouted at her again, to which he garnered the same reaction of confusion, which was suddenly replaced by that same smile.

"Speaking of having the weekend off, did you and Samson want to catch a movie at the theater down in wing 9? I hear they are going to play an old classic called 'The Time Machine'. Made back in 2002 I think?" She replied to Leo's pleading incorrectly. Shocked, and filled with disbelief, Leo dashed out into the Hallway. A man leaned out of his own quarters and looked at Diana with confusion.

"What the hell was that?" He asked. Diana shrugged and replied.

"No idea, Jonathan. Guess he doesn't like old movies." She said to Jonathan.

'Why didn't she respond like she normally would?' Leo thought to himself frantically, as he ran as fast as he could to the main bridge, to find the station's captain. 'I need to warn...the Captain!' Leo screamed inside himself.

"Captain! Captain, you have to activate the station defenses at once!" Leo shouted suddenly at the man who was sitting at a raised terminal, looking out towards a space scene, earth overtaking most of the windows. The man slowly turned behind him with a look of surprise on his face.

"Oh, why hello there, Leo! What brings you to the bridge?" The captain asked, as if he didn't hear what Leo had almost screamed into his ear.

"I said you need to raise station defense! We're going to be ambushed by Cluster forces!" Leo pleaded with the Captain, who suddenly bore the same look of bewilderment that Diana had when she heard him, and shared the same mocking smile, as if he said nothing at all.

"How are the new quarters serving you and the rest of the squad? Finding them fitting enough?" The captain asked. Not believing his eyes, Leo suddenly dashed from the bridge, not knowing where he was running.

'Agh! Wha-whats going on around here? They both had that same look on their faces!' Leo thought to himself, trying to come to terms with what was going on. Stopping suddenly, he formulated a hypothesis in his head. 'What if...what if they can't reply to some things? What if they can't reply to things where I don't know how they'd react?' Leo's mind processed his chilling revelation. Eyeing a random station resident, he decided to put it to the rest.

"Hey, you! I think you are the ugliest man I have ever seen!" Leo shouted at the man. Again he saw that look of confusion, and as if on cue, that mocking smile came to the man's face, and to add insult to injury, kept walking down the hallway. Leo's mind froze with disbelief. Before he could do anything else, a white light enveloped the hallway he was in. After he felt an explosion rip apart the area he was in, he quickly found himself choking to death in the vacuum of space. 'Okay, that...won't...work.' Leo managed to think, just before he died. Opening his eyes and breathing again, he found himself back in his bathroom, inside his quarters. 'I don't understand...what else can I do to stop this? I don't want to be in here anymore!' his mind raced, as he looked at himself in the bathroom mirror.

"Hey, Leo, isn't it awesome that the council has given us weekend leave?" he heard Diana ask from the entrance to his quarters, prompting a scream to escape his throat.

/*-*/n

Jenny was having a wonderful dream of riding a roller coaster with Brad when she was awoken by a light shaking of her bed. Looking up in the darkness that was only illuminated by the full moon, she saw Misty staring up at the sky through the window.

"Was this work done by you?" Misty suddenly asked Jenny, without taking her eyes off the sky, which caused Jenny to jump a bit.

"If you mean the bandages, then yeah. It was me. How are you feeling?" Jenny asked her sincerely. Misty snorted a bit, and then answered.

"Well...I don't feel anything more than a dull throbbing in my head now. Hey, I wanna ask. Why have you been keeping your opinions of me being here to yourself? Why did you patch me up?" Misty answered with a question of her own, now looking directly at Jenny, who was now sitting at the end of her bed.

"Yesterday...well, two days ago now, I guess," Jenny corrected herself after checking her internal clock to find it was 1:37 in the morning, "when we got back, my Mom took me aside. She asked me to set aside out disagreement for the time being, until things calmed down in terms of the way the planet has been acting. As you noticed at lunch, I was too excited at having to do it, and I didn't have to like it, but I was setting it aside regardless. But after what happened at lunch...I realized that by holding onto my dislike for you, even if I wasn't really bringing it up, I'd probably end up doing something really stupid where someone could get hurt or killed." Jenny confessed to Misty, as she played with her hands and looked towards the floor. Misty nodded and then looked towards the sky again.

"Thank you for fixing me up. And for letting me stick around." Misty said almost in a whisper.

"No problem, Misty. Besides, it's the least I could do." Jenny said to Misty, which prompted a confused look to come from her. "Well, you saved Leo's life. The way I see it, because he saved mine, I owe it to him to help the one who saved him." Jenny tried to explain.

"Okay, I kinda think I can follow your logic through...but it's kinda weird." Misty replied, staring at Jenny with a bemused look. Jenny smiled in an embarrassed manner, and then replied.

"Well, basically, I helped you in return for saving my friend. Better?" Jenny asked, to which Misty nodded.

"Yeah, that's much clearer." Misty answered. "Hey, why am I sleeping with you in your bed, anyways?"

"Oh, well...your room pretty much got turned upside down by the earthquake. We didn't have time to clean it when Brume kicked the door in, carrying you. I didn't explain it at the time, but the thing was that we only had one more room available, but it only had one bed. If we had you in that bed, then Brume would have the share one with someone else. I'm not having a guy share my bed, or my bedroom, and Leo is unconscious in a bed that is only twin sized. I wanted him as comfortable as possible, so...I had Brume place you in my room." Jenny told Misty, using her fingers as visual cues. Misty chuckled as she imagined Brume sharing a bed with Jenny, as he had a nasty habit of swinging his arms around in his sleep, which had a tendency to land in awkward places. She'd probably find him pressed into a crushed, bloody heap in a corner somewhere the next morning.

"So, whats it about Leo that's anchoring you here?" Jenny asked. As Misty was looking for a way to answer her question, there was a sudden tapping at the window, and the two girls turned to see Brad standing on a ladder, waving at them.

"Hey, thanks for letting me in, it's flipping freezing out there." Brad thanked the girls, as he massaged his hands, trying to warm them. Just as Jenny was about to lecture Brad about wandering around outside without a coat on in the middle of a cold snap, the three of them heard a yelp from the room below, and something smashing. Without a word, they dashed from Jenny's room, to the landing below, and to Leo's door. Not hesitating, Misty kicked the door open, with Jenny and Brad hastily dashing in after her.

"What the hell...why is it so dark in here? And so cold?" Brad asked to no one in particular, questions which the two girls had no answer for. Without warning, the door slammed back into place behind them, and the room developed a faint blue glow. Jenny became frustrated at the silence, and flicked on her internal night vision. Taken aback, she saw Leo cowering in a corner of the room. Pointing in his direction, the three of them walked cautiously towards him, unsure of what to expect. As they approached, they began to hear him speaking to himself in a panicked voice.

"Not seeing this, not seeing this, not seeing this...she is dead, and you are just having a panic attack...not seeing this..." Leo was mumbling to himself. Jenny knelt down besides him, and shook him slightly.

"Leo, are you okay? Whats going on?" Jenny asked the extremely frightened Leo. unclenching his eyes and looking at her, he answered shakily.

"Th-that's whats going on!" Leo shouted at Jenny, as he stared at something floating just above him. Now frightened herself, Jenny slowly looked to where Leo was pointing, only to witness a blueish, transparent, and legless apparition of a girl not much older than anyone in the room. The figure suddenly shot towards Jenny, and caused her to jump back and shriek as it shot through her, Brad and Misty shouting in fright as they witnessed the scene from beside Leo's bed. As the lights to the bedroom suddenly switched on, Jenny slumped forwards and collapsed on the floor, prompting Brad to panic and run to her side, shortly followed by an extremely confused Mrs. Wakeman.

"What on EARTH is going on in here?! Jennifer, can you hear me?" Mrs. Wakeman shouted at Jenny, who began to mumble.

"I feel...cold. And all tingly." was all that Jenny managed to say before she shook her head and pressed hand to it. Sighing, Mrs. Wakeman looked around the room and noticed Leo hyperventilating as he leaned up against the wall. "Good to see that you're back with us, Mr. Silva, but what happened?"

"I...don't know. I was having a nightmare, found myself on the floor...some...thing was floating in my face when they came in and Jenny came to my side. When she saw it, she yelled, and it shot through her. Then you came in." Leo explained vaguely.

"What the heck did that ghost want with you, Leo?" Brad suddenly asked, to which Leo gave an equally vague shrug. Frustrated, Misty finally jumped in.

"You expect me to swallow that garbage? Even if you say you don't know what it wanted or who it was, I can tell it knew you!" Misty snarled at him, causing Mrs. Wakeman and Brad to do a double-take.

"Leave it to a Rajinek Princess to perceive a spirits emotions that weren't projected to her." Leo suddenly spat rudely at Misty, causing her to gasp in surprise, his hyperventilating suddenly vanishing as he fumed. "If you want Ghost Stories, then watch the sci-fi channel. Otherwise, you'd better start badgering Skyway Patrol, 'cause I'm not about to talk about squat." Leo explained with a cold finality. Looking around the silent room, he gave a loud sigh and then walked from his room.

"I'm heating up some water for tea, if anyone wants any, the kettle should have some left after." Leo offered quietly as he left.

"Why...why won't he tell us anything about his past? It's haunting him, and quiet literally." Misty whispered, mostly to herself. Brad simply stared after Leo, thinking.

/*-*/n

"...and then he went to make himself some tea." Brad finished explaining to Sheldon, who stared at him in awe.

"And you saw the whole thing..? Even the ghost?" Sheldon asked, curiosity getting the better of him. Annoyed, Brad snapped his fingers to get Sheldon's attention.

"Yeah, I did, and yeah, it was scary as heck, but I'm more concerned about Leo's reaction to Misty questioning him for his vague answer. He went and did a complete 180, from scared to furious, in less than a second!" Brad exclaimed, expecting Sheldon to have some sort of easy answer. "The more things that happen, and the more he ignores us or redirects the conversation when we ask him about something that happened prior to us meeting him for the first time..." Brad trailed off, not really wanting to speak his mind. Sheldon picked up on what Brad was thinking, however, and beckoned him into his garage.

"Remember that thing you saw me working on before? The 'Eye of Truth'? I finished it." Sheldon was explaining, as he hopped onto his computer and began navigating through some file folders.

"What...what does that have to do with anything, Shel? You've been acting really weird tonight!" Brad pleaded with his friend, hopelessly confused. When Sheldon loaded an image he had taken earlier that day of an unhappy Leo as a single subject, Brad looked around it, for some hidden clue as to Sheldon's behavior.

"I took this when we got to the school, when you walked Jenny over to Home-Ec. I said I needed a random image of a person for a project I was working on, and he finally agreed. Now the project I had was the 'Eye of Truth', to which I made as part of a function in the camera I used. Take a look at his eyes." Sheldon commanded to Brad, who listened and looked. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, he looked back at Sheldon with a confused look.

"They look like normal, jade green eyes to me. Whats so special?" Brad asked.

"That was the first image, taken with 'Truth mode' off. Here is a second, automatically taken by the camera straight after, with the scanner turned on. Again look at the eyes." Sheldon explained, to which Brad shrugged to himself and looked. Staring at the image (which now had a decidedly purple hue) he saw a pair of Jade green forward slash eyes staring back, which reminded him of Jenny's old eyes. Turning to look at Sheldon, his mind exploded in thought as he suddenly realized what he just looked at, and did a double take.

"Wha-what the hell?" Brad shouted in shock and disbelief, and began searching the image for more differences. "Leo is a-!" Brad began to shout again, to which Sheldon cupped his mouth and pleaded for silence.

"Thats one possibility. Another is that he lost his real eyes in an accident. But if he is a fully fledged robot...this begs many questions." Sheldon asked, visibly worried.

"Is he the real Leo Silva? If he is, is his past simply a topic he is ashamed to talk about?" Brad began to name off a series of questions.

"If he isn't...what happened to the real Leo Silva? Is he standing in for a dead human being, and did he steal his identity for malicious reasons...?" Sheldon threw in to the discussion. Brad sat down for a moment, thinking. Looking back up at Sheldon, he attempted to calm their racing minds.

"Well, look, your camera only picked up on robotic eyes disguised as human eyes. The rest of him is being shown as normal flesh and hair. That could be an indicator that nothing more than his eyes is robotic, so we should be really careful of where we go with this info. Because if we tell Jenny, and she goes bonkers and it turns out it's only an old injury..." Brad suggested to Sheldon, who nodded in agreement.

"I agree, but...something else bugged me. Mrs. Wakeman said she had to talk to someone in Skyway Patrol about getting Leo's file." Sheldon beat around the bush, annoying Brad slightly. Seeing him slightly upset, Sheldon cut to the chase. "Brad, Mrs. Wakeman's main computer has a constant, maximum security clearance connection to all other Skyway Patrol systems. She could as easily access Leo's personnel file as the Patrol's General's file!" Sheldon exclaimed, shouting himself now. Brad moaned and grasped his head, all the new information floating around in his head. The two of them jumped, however, when they heard Jenny's voice float in from outside Sheldon's slightly raised garage door.

"Guy's, I'm sorry, but I'm sick of waiting. It's time we found answers about Leo's past, without his consent. It honestly looks like he is about to snap under the pressure of keeping it a secret. We need to sneak into my Mom's computer room." Jenny told the two of them with a determined voice, as she ducked under the door and walked in, tossing them each specialized suits. "Put those on, they're special sneaking suits. They help throw off digital security systems. Meet me at my front house ASAP." Jenny outright commanded. As she ducked back under the door, the two boys looked at eachother dumbfounded.

"The things we do for friendship..." Brad suddenly mumbled to himself as he began to don the suit, Sheldon quickly doing the same.

/*-*/n

"About time! You guys take forever!" Misty was heard whispering to the two boys as they snuck into the house. Waving frantically from a potted bush that covered a decent portion of the wall beside the Laboratory entrance, they got behind the bush just in time as Jenny and Mrs. Wakeman emerged.

"Seriously, I don't know what happened, Mom. Short of feeling like I somehow got punched by electricity, I can't recall anything." Jenny was heard explaining to her mother. Brad parted the bush slightly to see Jenny and Mrs. Wakeman both wearing nightgowns again.

"Alright then, XJ-9...I'm exhausted and going back to sleep. If you feel like staying up a bit longer to talk to Misty, I have no quandary with that, just...don't stay up too late, alright? We still have alot of work to do tomorrow, what with town repair." Mrs. Wakeman spoke softly to her daughter, and bode her goodnight. Jenny stood and watched her mother ascend the staircase, before she turned to the bush, beckoning the trio to exit from their hiding place. Once Brad and Sheldon exited the bush and got a better glimpse of Jenny, they both blushed when they saw it was a simple and thin nightgown. The boy's reactions caused Jenny to blush herself, and stammer in frustration.

"S-stop screwing around and get in there! We only have 20 minutes before the core security comes back on, and then it'll be slow going from there on!" Jenny rasped at their boys quietly, shoving them through the laboratory door, with Misty following as she shook her head with a smirk. The four teenagers zipped down a series of staircases until they came upon a door. Not skipping a beat, Jenny pushed the 'execute' button next to the door, and waited patiently. When nothing happened, she let out a growl. "I thought I got the gatekeeper program to agree to open up for me..." Jenny grumbled. Sheldon walked over, holding a strange device, and plugged it into a port on the side of the door's control panel. After a couple of tense moments, the door suddenly jerked open.

"Portable hacking device, never leave home without it." Sheldon explained proudly, as he disengaged the device from the door and walked in. Jenny simply grumbled some more as she followed him in, with Brad and Misty eagerly bringing up the rear.

"Okay, so, we're all aware of the reason we came down here, right?" Misty asked everyone once they were next to the giant computer.

"His personnel file." Brad answered firmly for all of them.

"Exactly. There must be something contained in it that would begin to explain why he is acting so weird and aggressive. Extremely different from how I remember him." Misty explained out loud.

"People change, you know. It's been how many years since you two last saw each other?" Sheldon pipped up, getting a disapproving look from everyone around him.

"You know as well as we do that Leo has gone wonky the past little while. Before these recent events, everything he did almost seemed...automated." Misty replied quietly, visibly worried about Leo.

"Then, when he snapped and ruined Don's day...I swear, his eyes were glowing red. I'm sure of what I saw, but Mom disregarded it. Chalked it up to an error in my visual programming. Not to mention, I'm certain Don would be seriously injured, if not dead, if I hadn't jumped in. I monitored a surge in energy in the air around Leo when he struck." Jenny described what she had seen only a few hours ago, which felt like days.

"His eyes glowing red...might be right. Did you overhear Brad and Me talking earlier, Jenny?" Sheldon asked Jenny, who's skin blended in nicely with the low level of light and made her hard to make out. Once he discerned she had shook her head, he continued. "I made a device capable of seeing through biological masks. I didn't know any better, but I asked Leo earlier before school if I could take his picture to test it. He was reluctant, but he eventually agreed. This is what I found..." Sheldon trailed off as he brought up a holographic version of the image from his watch.

"Oh my ancestors! Jenny, his eyes...!" Misty shouted out loud, misery not far from her voice. Jenny was fixated on Leo's eyes, unable to believe what she was seeing.

"We're not sure, but there is a possibility that Leo simply lost his eyes in an old accident or something, because as you can see...the rest of him is still flesh. The camera didn't filter it, meaning it's real." Brad spoke firmly, trying to calm the girls as best he could. Silently, Jenny turned to the computer, and turned it on, the four of them basking in the giant screen's glow. Her fingers moving at a dizzying pace, Jenny proceeded to disengage her mother's security system, allowing them to break into the Skyway Patrol mainframe. As time went on, Misty and Brad sat on tables present in the room, slouching and wondering what they would all find, while Sheldon and Jenny worked on hacking into the mainframe.

"Got it, let's open up his file." Jenny answered monotonously, prompting Brad to worry about her and Sheldon to tell him 'Told you her Mom lied.' via sidebar conversation. As they skimmed through his early history in Skyway Patrol, they found that he had a knack for stirring up trouble.

"See, that's the Leo I know. He was always finding fun in irritating others, and he showed off a lot. To be honest, I'm surprised that he even went to work for Skyway Patrol. He always hated being ordered around. He really has changed so much since I last saw him..." Misty trailed off as they continued to scroll through Leo's personal history with Skyway Patrol.

"As per Sheldon, 'people change', I guess..." Jenny replied as she continued to tap away at the 'down' key. Just as the room was about to get quiet, something on the screen caught Jenny's eye, causing a 'Hmm?' to escape from her. She had come upon the end of his file with a series of sub-listings featuring strange names. "Incident at Zero, LY-2, Post Employment Maintenance schedule...what are these?" Jenny asked to no one in particular. She clicked on the first listing, waiting for it to load.

"Incident at Zero? You don't remember hearing that before, Jen? That was what Skyway Patrol called the attack on Station Zero, it was mentioned during that ghost show we watched before Christmas." Brad explained to Jenny.

"Oh, thats right...yeah, this report's beginning just describes Vexus' attack on it. Looks like there is more to it though. ...Oh, it's describing Leo's involvement! Hold on, let me make it bigger." Jenny exclaimed, as the report filled the screen.

'Agent Silva was aboard Station Zero on weekend leave after returning from a successful mission on Zebes, when the station was attacked. As Cluster forces stormed the station, Silva and a small number of soldiers were successful in pushing back an oncoming rush of the evac-center, allowing all non-combatant personnel and a large number of soldiers to retreat from the station and return to earth.  
As he and his peers pulled back to board their own ship, a Cluster Zypher Class fighter presumably lost control and slammed into the remaining docked evac ship, killing all inside it, and the majority of those still in the escape bay. Being at the rear of the group, Agent Silva and 5 other soldiers escaped being sucked into the vaccum of space when the emergency bulkheads engaged. They escaped detection from Cluster Drones by covering themselves with the bodies of the victims of the Cluster attack. At this point, Agent Silva and the soldiers parted ways, as they had engineered a plan to escape through old and disabled escape pods, located in the bottom tower of the station.

As explained by one of the surviving soldiers, the plan required someone to go and engage the old power generators that the escape pod's life support and flight control systems relied on. Silva volunteered, as on his down to the escape pods, he'd be able to check on the rest of his own squad, and see if they survived the attack. However, when Leo got to the generators and turned them on, he noticed on-coming Cluster Drones through a CCTV set that displayed the escape pod's entry door, and commanded the soldiers to evacuate without him. Having done so, we no longer have any possible confirmation of events save from Agent Silva himself and Maintenance Engineer Nelson.

According to Agent Silva and Engineer Nelson, it was at that point that the two became aware of each other's presence aboard the station, as Silva had to speak the orders he gave the soldiers via the Station-wide announcement System. Nelson contacted him through a shortwave communicator, and they agreed to meet in the maintenance bay, as Nelson had been hurriedly modifying a military transport spacecraft amongst all the chaos of the attack. Silva quickly found out, however, that his only direct path was critically unstable structurally, and deduced that it could let way to space very quickly and easily. His only options were to head back down the hallway he came from, which according to his own words 'would be a suicide mission'.'

Just as Jenny was about to scroll further down the report, the whole mainframe suddenly shutoff, and the room turned red with the sounding of an alarm. Not wasting a moment, Jenny threw an odd device onto the floor, which exploded sending off odd white streamers that bounced around the room a few times. Being hit by one, Jenny began shaking for a moment and gasping, and suddenly went offline. Misty quickly grabbed her, unphased, and grabbed the two boys as she struggled with Jenny's limp body. After Misty had mumbled something funny, Brad felt a strange and unpleasant sensation of what he could only describe as turning into liquid.

No longer visually aware of what his body was doing, he stumbled out the door as he felt shoving from behind. They just managed to get out of the room when XJ-8 came barreling down the hallway, her fist turned into a laser cannon. Not wanting to be turned into a pile of ash, Brad stayed very quiet and still as XJ-8 searched the computer lab for the unknown intruder. After what seemed like hours, XJ-8 seemed content that it was a false alarm. Shutting the alarm off, she walked back down into a room at the far end of the hallway.

"What's down there?" Brad heard Sheldon's disembodied voice whisper out, causing him to shiver slightly at the creepiness.

"XJ-8 is guarding the Kitaki Twins, making sure they don't try and escape." Misty's voice echoed out in reply, equally creeping Brad out.

"We sure didn't learn a heck of a lot. All we achieved was to piss off Jenny's sister, and get Jenny to knock herself out cold." Brad thought out loud. As he tried to look back at what they learned, he was surprised to hear Jenny reply.

"Well...we...learned that our answers definitely rest up in space. In the decommissioned Station Zero." She replied. Deeming it was safe to do so, Misty removed their weird cloaking, to which made Brad feel chilled to the bone.

"How the heck are we going to even get on that thing? Me and Sheldon have no way of getting up there without being caught, and the hell if you think we aren't coming, not after you brought us this far." Brad told the two girls sternly, who glanced at each other. Silent for a moment, Sheldon thought of an idea.

"We could always talk to that ghost show's crew. They obviously had a way up, if we can convince them to tell us how, we could get in."

"Better yet, why not simply convince them to let Jenny guest star in an episode revisiting it? Having Jenny in anything these days causes ratings to shoot through the roof!" Brad exclaimed excitedly, the other three nodding their heads in agreement.

"It's settled then. We'll contact them tomorrow." Misty replied, a smirk on her face.


End file.
